The Gary Null Blog

How close was the Fukushima meltdown to becoming a far larger disaster? Closer than most people know. And, yet, the details of the aftermath may surprise you. In the magazine this week, I reconstruct what happened and why—and examine just how close Japan came to the worst-case scenario. (“The Fallout” is available to subscribers. Here are the options, print and digital.)

Travelling back and forth to Fukushima this year, I encountered humbling examples of perseverance and sacrifice. I also came to understand how a nuclear accident creeps up on a place that never imagined it was vulnerable. Before this, I had never thought much about nuclear power. I will have a hard time forgetting about it now. The lessons of Fukushima are not what I thought when I started, and I’ll be writing more about that here this week.