Fukushima

Fukushima takes an in-depth look at the March, 2011 nuclear disaster that occurred as a result of one the most powerful earthquakes ever to hit Japan. In his lively and conversational writing style, Sargent puts the tragedy in useful context by exploring what led the Japanese to build 55 nuclear power plants on one of the most seismically active locations on Earth, Sargent helps us to see Japan's economic success story through the prism of its aggressive approach to energy independence while resisting new geological understandings of plate tectonics that would likely have changed their decision to build the plants along the geologic "ring of fire." Fukushima also takes us through the moment-by-moment decisions and miscommunications that created the worst nuclear disaster in our planet's history, demonstrating that there is no such thing as a fail-safe nuclear system. But Sargent's tale isn't all dark. He leaves us with a peak into a possible energy future that relies much more on clean energy and forces us to take a long, hard look at our reliance on nuclear.