The Other Fukushima Plant Introduction

The Other Fukushima Plant Introduction

Fukushima Daini, a nuclear plant similar to Fukushima Daiichi, was able to avoid catastrophic consequences as a result of the 2011 March tsunami. Despite Daini having some power, unlike Daiichi, many factors and decisions helped Daini to avoid the extremes that happened in Fukushima Daiichi.

Factors That Led to the Survival of the Fukushima Daini Plant

The Daini plant had a good and motivated team leader.

Naohiro Masuda, the then superintendent of Fukushima Daini, proved to be a great leader during the time of the crisis. Masuda was able to bring together all the 400 employees of the company to think and make decisions together (Gulati et al., 2014). Masuda was able to reason with the employees in handling the existing situation. He shared with them the level of uncertainty and doubt that was present and persuaded them to work together. His good knowledge of the plant and openness to the employees made them trust him. Masuda proved to be an open leader that was able to work with his team. Unlike many leaders, he resolved not just to use orders and making personal decisions but rather to use a better approach of involving them. This way, the employees trusted in him and were determined to ensure that the plans worked. Masuda was a hardworking leader. Since the crisis started, Masuda did not sleep for several nights. He wrote plans on the board and communicated them to the group. He was determined to ensure that through all means, the meltdown would not occur.

The Daini team ensured inclusive decision making

The team was all in the Emergency Response Center. Here, they were able to include different opinions in decision making. The team came together and assessed, revised, and communicated information on what they knew and what was the best paths of action. This unified decision making ensured that their opinions were represented rather than taking orders from the leader. The crew also had more hands-on experience since they are the ones who dealt with the reactors daily. This made their opinions to be put to great consideration during decision making. The crews’ assessment played a great role in the plans suggested by Masuda. The unified decision making motivated the crew and made them trust their leader. The crew respected the plans they collectively came up together with. These actions show unified decision making.

The team showed teamwork

Teamwork refers to joint action by a group, involving more than just the union of simultaneous individual actions, even when those actions are coordinated. Teamwork was demonstrated in every part of the crisis. From the time the crisis stroke to the time the reactors were cooled down, the team worked together in unity. The team had families and homes to be worried about. Some lost family members, and some lost their homes. However, these did not deter them from showing teamwork. From the analysis, Masuda and the team came together and divided themselves into teams. The teams of 10 people each worked collectively to analyze the working and non-working parts of the reactors. Teamwork is also demonstrated when the team was laying the cables. The team collectively laid more than nine kilometers of the cables, which was vital in the final step. Considering the fears at the moment, from the fears of the wellbeing of their family members to the uncertainty of the radiation levels from the neighboring plant spiking, the whole team showed great teamwork by accomplishing the intended goal. Many members would have opted to go home and leave the danger zone, which was the Daini nuclear reactors. Still, unlike Daiichi members, they collectively worked hard to combat the catastrophic results.

Employees’ Respect for their leader, Masuda

Masuda was in charge of coordinating the whole team. He severally came up with plans and communicated them to the members. The members showed great respect by trusting his leadership. Masuda admitted that he did not expect them to listen to him. However, they all obeyed and dedicated themselves to see the plans go through. From the instances where he asked them to group themselves to assess damages to reactors, some sent to oversee the water levels, and during cable laying, the teams supported him. The team did not object to the plans put forward even though it meant putting their lives in danger if at all, the reactors failed to cool. They also showed respect by helping their leader prioritize the more urgent reactors. This respect and obedience for the leader enabled them to prevent the negative effects of the reactor eruption.

The team embraced the uncertainties in their plans

This was a major factor in the success of Daini. First, Masuda addressed the team and openly admitted to them the high level of uncertainty that would be in their decisions. The events that followed were very unpredictable. First, the water levels that floodwaters could hold was up to 5.2 meters. However, the water levels rose to approximately 17 meters, thrice the controllable water level. There were also changes in the more urgent nuclear reactor and sources of power. These showed that the operation was full of uncertainties. Masuda kept changing the plans based on what was happening at the moment. The team, however, responded positively. Despite all the unpredictability, the team embraced the plans and news plans as they came up. This was very important since many would have opted to leave considering the uncertainty. The team embraced the unpredictability and made sure the random plans worked.

From the Daini situation, many factors came into place to help avoid a meltdown or eruption. The team’s togetherness, respect, and trust in their leader played major roles. This is a good example of teamwork and how it can be used in critical scenarios.

References

Gulati, R., Castro, C., & Krontiris, C. (2014). How the other Fukushima plant survived. Harvard Business Review.