IntroductionOn March 11, the strongest earthquake ever instrumentally recorded in Japan struck the northern coast of Japan. The ground shaking caused the safety shutdown of 11 nuclear reactors and the interruption of external power supplies to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant complex. Located on the coast just southeast of the earthquake's epicenter, the Fukushima plant resisted ground movement but its backup power supplies from diesel generators, needed to keep the reactor's coolant pumps running, were deactivated by the impact of a subsequent 14 meter tsunami. wave. Additional backup power provided by the batteries kept the coolant pumps running for another eight hours. Subsequently, plant operators initiated emergency procedures designed to control the temperature of the reactor core, including the use of seawater to douse the structure. The resulting gases such as steam and hydrogen were vented, the hydrogen exploding on contact with oxygen in the atmosphere. As cooling efforts continued, officials from the plant's owner, Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), said the situation was "improving." The media response to the Fukushima situation has been apocalyptic. On April 26, the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion approached. German commentators have warned that Germany can no longer pretend that nuclear energy is safe. Four days after the earthquake, Chancellor Angela Merkel ordered the closure of seven nuclear reactors built before 1980. The European Commission agreed to introduce as yet undefined “stress tests” at European power plants, while China suspended the process of approval for new nuclear power plants pending review of safety procedures. Three months before the earthquake in Japan, Paris Nuclear Energy A...... middle of paper ...... commitment was to finance the development of renewable energy through a carbon tax program on fossil fuels. Even before the Fukushima accident, media commentators had claimed that the government was “afraid” to openly admit the need for nuclear energy. In the aftermath of Fukushima, the Italian, Swedish and Polish governments announced that they will stick with previous plans to expand nuclear energy production. The U.S. government predicts that the future of nuclear energy will be provided by small-scale, modular, low-cost reactors built off-site. “This is a reactor designed for safety first, not one where you do the physics first and then add safety,” said Victor Reis, senior adviser in the Office of the Under Secretary of Energy for Science. Unless the global nuclear industry can convince a skeptical public of its technical safety, its future will remain in unnameable limbo.