On the Root Causes of the Fukushima Daiichi Disaster from the Perspective of High Complexity and Tight Coupling in Large-Scale Systems

This study explores the root causes of Fukushima Daiichi disaster and discusses how complexity tight coupling in large-scale systems should be reduced under emergencies such as station blackout (SBO) to prevent future disasters. First, on basis a summary published literature disaster, we found that direct (i.e., malfunctions problems) included overlooking loss coolant nuclear reactor’s failure cool down. Second, verified two characteristics proposed “normal accident” theory—high coupling—underlay each causes. These were have made emergency management more challenging. We discuss disasters with high could prevented through an organizational managerial approach can remove asymmetry authority information foster climate openly discussing critical safety issues power plants.