What is Nuclear accidents in Japan?
[[File:Fukushima I by Digital Globe.jpg|thumb|During the 2011 emergency at the [[Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant]] in Japan, three nuclear reactors were damaged by explosions.]] '''Nuclear accidents in Japan''' include the following major cases: *The fast breeder ''Monju Nuclear Power Plant'' sodium leak in December 1995 (the reactor is still shut-down), the Tokai reprocessing [[waste]] explosion in March 1997, the criticality accident at the [[Tokaimura nuclear accident|Tokai fuel fabrication facility]] in September 1999 and a widespread falsification scandal starting in August 2002 that lead to shut down all of [[Tokyo Electric Power Company]]'s 17 nuclear reactors.<ref name=mycle>[http://www.greens-efa.org/cms/topics/dokbin/206/206749.pdf The World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2007] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327101853/http://www.greens-efa.org/cms/topics/dokbin/206/206749.pdf |date=2009-03-27 }} p. 23.</ref> *Also, on 9 August 2004, five workers were killed after a steam leak at the ''Mihama Nuclear Power Plant''-3 station. The subsequent investigation revealed a serious lack in systematic inspection in Japanese nuclear plants, which led to a massive inspection program.<ref name=mycle/> *On 16 July 2007, a severe earthquake (measuring 6.8 on the [[Richter scale]]) hit the region where Tokyo Electric's ''Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant'' is located. The plant with seven units is the largest single nuclear [[power station]] in the world. All of the reactors were shut down and are expected to remain closed for damage verification and repairs for at least one year.<ref name=mycle/> *Following an [[earthquake]], [[tsunami]], and failure of cooling systems at [[Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant]] in Japan on March 11, 2011, a nuclear emergency was declared. This was the first time a nuclear emergency had been declared in Japan, and 140,000 residents within 20km of the plant were moved out.<ref name=bi-emergency>{{cite news|last=Weisenthal|first=Joe|title=Japan Declar