TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) which privately owns and operates the six nuclear reactors on site, has been accused of allowing pressure in one of the reactors to have risen to a level far beyond that which it was designed to withstand - which may have caused the nuclear situation to be far worse than it should have been.
The pressure within the containment vessel housing the nuclear reactor's core was allowed to reach twice the level it was designed for. TEPCO waited 12 hours to pass before workers began venting the radioactive steam. That's 12 hours wasted. This gave the nuclear reactor time to overheat and explode.
The explosion happened one hour after the venting began, heavily damaging the reactor building itself. Both Japanese and U.S. nuclear regulators have stated that this blast initially spread highly radioactive debris outside of the plant which has led to a 20 kilometre evacuation around Dai-ichi.
Over one month later, over 85,000 people are still displaced from their homes, living in emergency shelters.
Japan has since raised the level of the nuclear disaster to the highest level - a seven - placing it on par with the Chernobyl disaster of April 26, 1986 in the former Soviet Union.
On April 22, 2011, Japan legally began enforcing the 20-kilometre evacuation zone - and advised that several other towns northeast of that zone also leave the area within the next month because of concerns of long-term exposure to radiation.
Japan's Prime Minister Kan Naoto (surname first) said on April 22 that this advisory is a precautionary suggestion, but admitted that several additional towns may be asked to evacuate in the future. The area northeastern area Kan talked about is mostly agricultural - and although most people have already left the area, some 7,000 people remain.
Kan also says that the government will build 30,000 temporary homes by the end ofMay 2011, with an additional 70,000 homes to follow.
The country's cabinet approved on April 22, an initial supplementary budget of US$49 billion to help with recovery efforts.
Click HERE for a site showing (as of March 25, 2011) possible radiation affects surrounding the Dai-ichi reactor.
Files compiled by Andrew Joseph
