Masao Yoshida (engineer)

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Masao Yoshida ( Japanese 吉田 昌 郎 , Yoshida Masao ; born February 17, 1955 in Osaka Prefecture ; † July 9, 2013 in Tokyo ) was a Japanese nuclear engineer and the responsible operations manager of the nuclear power plants during the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.

Life

Yoshida's parents ran a small advertising company. Yoshida studied engineering and then nuclear technology as a master's course at the Tokyo University of Technology and then went to Tepco in 1979 . There in 2007 he was promoted to infrastructure security officer for the two nuclear power plants in Fukushima Daiichi and Fukushima Daini . In this capacity, he once claimed that the probability that a tsunami could destroy the nuclear power plant was “zero”. In June 2010 he was appointed operations manager of the two nuclear power plants.

March 11, 2011 occurred after the Tohoku earthquake and subsequent tsunami , the Fukushima nuclear disaster one. Yoshida's actions are said to have been largely responsible for the fact that after the four hydrogen explosions and the three incipient meltdowns in reactors 1, 2 and 3 of Fukushima Daiichi, the extent of the disaster could be contained.

On March 12, 2011 at 7:55 pm, around 28 hours after the tsunami damaged the nuclear power plants, the Tepco management gave permission to discharge seawater into reactor 1. Permission to discharge seawater - which will damage the reactors - Prime Minister Naoto Kan had previously given. Only 21 minutes later, however, the Tepco management instructed Yoshida to interrupt the introduction of seawater and thus the cooling of the reactor. Yoshida disregarded this instruction from the management and continued pumping in seawater to cool the damaged reactors. At 8:05 p.m. that night, the Japanese government issued another instruction to discharge seawater.

During the depressurization, explosions and fires, the radiation exposure on the site rose sharply. As of March 15, there were only around "50" - also referred to in the media as "Fukushima 50" - employees from Tepco, the manufacturer Toshiba and 130 other workers and helpers from external companies, the fire department of a special unit from Tokyo and the armed forces - together more than 400 people - in action. Yoshida led the rescue work on site.

On June 7, 2011, Yoshida received a warning not to have followed the order of the Tepco management and not to have reported this earlier. Five months after the start of the nuclear disaster, Yoshida had to testify before a government investigation team. Although it was announced that he could not be questioned by the public prosecutor because of his compromised health, his testimony was checked as the filing of a criminal case against him was being considered.

In November 2011 he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. After the diagnosis, he resigned from his post. He underwent several surgeries, including emergency surgery after an intracranial bleeding in July 2012.

In the same month, in August 2012, contrary to the traditional Japanese corporate culture , Yoshida recorded a video with the human resource development consultant Hideaki Yabuhara to support the psychological counseling that he provided once a month for the 250 Tepco employees. Psychological counseling is rare in Japan, and admitting to receiving psychological counseling is even rarer. One message from Yoshida in the video was that Tepco should provide funding for mental health care for its employees. In this video, the otherwise always very restrained engineer admitted his experiences during the days after the disaster in March and admitted his feelings and fears. He was silent about conflicts with the Tepco headquarters, instead he appealed that the most important thing was to further stabilize the ruined nuclear power plant.

Masao Yoshida died of cancer on July 9, 2013, at the age of 58. He left a wife and three sons.

literature

  • Ryusho Kadota: Shi no Fuchi wo Mita Otoko: Yoshida Masao to Fukushima Daiichi Genpatsu no 500 Nichi (“A Man Who was on the Brink of Death: Masao Yoshida and the Fukushima No. 1 Plant's 500 Days”). PHP 2012. ISBN 9784569808352

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 「本店 に 盾 突 く 困 っ た や つ」 「気 骨 あ る」 福島 第 １ 原 発 の 吉田 所長 . In: Sankei Shimbun. May 26, 2011, archived from the original on July 10, 2013 ; Retrieved July 10, 2013 (Japanese).
  2. ↑ Fabio Ghelli: The hero of Fukushima is dead. In: ZEIT Online . July 9, 2013.
  3. ↑ Seismic Damage Information (the 54th Release) ( Memento April 10, 2011 on WebCite ) (English, pdf). NISA, March 26, 2011, archived from the original on April 10, 2011, retrieved on March 26, 2011.
  4. ↑ Seismic Damage Information (the 19th Release) ( Memento January 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency March 13, 2011
  5. ^ Christoph Neidhart: Workers in the Fukushima-1 reactors - Die Retter Japans , Süddeutsche.de March 21, 2011
  6. ↑ Hero Fukushima ex-manager who foiled nuclear disaster dies of cancer , July 9, 2013
  7. ↑ Ex-Director of Akw Fukushima has esophageal cancer , Morgenpost.de December 9, 2011
  8. ^ Former Fukushima plans chief Yoshida suffering from bleeding in brain ( Memento from July 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), japandailypress.com August 1, 2012
  9. ↑ Fukushima Watch: Video Letter from Plant Manager , Wall Street Journal August 13, 2012
  10. ^ Tepco manager Masao Yoshida's video diary ( Memento from March 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Japandailypress.com August 15, 2012
  11. ↑ Tepco does not pay for psychological help , Sueddeutsche.de August 14, 2012
personal data
SURNAME Yoshida, Masao
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 吉田 昌 郎 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese nuclear engineer and nuclear power plant director
DATE OF BIRTH 17th February 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Osaka prefecture
DATE OF DEATH July 9, 2013
Place of death Tokyo