The facility’s robust design is similar to that of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, the world’s largest, in Niigata, which was unscathed by the Chūetsu offshore earthquake (measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale) in July 2007. Fukushima Daiichi withstood the earthquake, but no one considered the possibility of ten-meter-high tsunami waves hitting a nuclear plant.
最出人意料的变故发生在福岛第一核电站。 这座核电站的设计和位于新泻的世界最大核电站柏崎刈羽同样坚固，而后者经受住了2007年7月中越近海地震（里氏6.8级）的考验。福岛第一核电站经受住了地震的袭击，但没有人想到10米高的海啸大浪会袭击核电站。