Ten years ago, an earthquake triggered a tsunami that caused a meltdown. It wasn’t a mixed metaphor. Starting on March 11, 2011, people across the world watched agape as three nuclear reactors in Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture broke down and spewed ionizing radiation far and wide into land, sea and air.
Such was the shock that another chain reaction took place on the other side of the world, in Berlin. This one was political in nature. Within a few dramatic days, the German government of Chancellor Angela Merkel made a policy U-turn and embarked on an “exit” from nuclear energy on March 14, 2011. The last German reactor will be powered down next year.
