In March
2011 Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was devastated by three
reactor explosions and two core meltdowns in the days following a 9.0
earthquake and a tsunami that produced waves as high as 17 meters. The world is
familiar with Daiichi’s fate; less well known is the crisis at its sister
plant, Daini, about 10 kilometers to the south. As a result of nature’s
onslaught, three of Daini’s four reactors lacked sufficient power to achieve
cooldown. To prevent the disaster experienced up north, the site
superintendent, Naohiro Masuda, and his team had to connect them to the plant’s
surviving power sources. In a volatile environment, Masuda and Daini’s hundreds
of employees responded to each unexpected event in turn. Luck played a part,
but so did smart leadership and sensemaking. Until the last reactor went into
cold shutdown, Masuda’s team took nothing for granted. With each new problem
they encountered, it recalibrated, iteratively creating continuity and
restoring order. Daini survived the crisis without an explosion or a meltdown.
[ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]