An Envirotechnical Disaster: Nature, Technology, and Politics at Fukushima

This essay uses literatures and concepts from environmental history, the history of technology, and disaster studies to analyze what took place at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station on March 11, 2011, and all that has transpired in the months since. In particular, it considers Charles Perrow's “normal accidents” and Thomas Parke Hughes's “technological systems,” emphasizing the contributions and limits of these frameworks. It then uses the notion of envirotechnical systems, a blending of ecological and technological systems, to analyze the normal operating procedures at Fukushima as well as the emergency measures taken during the actual crisis. It argues that environmental factors such as radioactive elements, water, air, and also human bodies are critical to understanding how the events at Fukushima unfolded. Yet there is a risk in naturalizing the disaster. Ultimately, a complex, dynamic, porous, and inextricable configuration of nature, technology, and politics helps us understand all that “Fukushima” now signifies.