Chapter 295: An Ordinary Scientist (9)
The nuclear explosion issue did not just affect TEPCO’s stock prices.
—The nuclear power plant is going to explode.
This message struck fear into the hearts of Japanese people who still remembered the nightmare of Fukushima. Immediately, a massive uproar erupted across Japan, centered in the Tohoku region. Tens of thousands of citizens began traveling to Aomori Prefecture to the north of the plant, Yamagata Prefecture to the west, and the Kanto region to the south.
Hotels quickly ran out of rooms, and there were calls for the government to set up evacuation centers to house citizens. Foreign investors quickly pulled out their money.
This was real. First of all, the person was Young-Joon. He has never been wrong in predicting this kind of disaster before. It may seem absurd for a biologist to predict a nuclear explosion, but he’s also a Nobel Prize nominee in physics. Moreover, he didn’t make his predictions out of his own delusions; he received data from an insider at the Tohoku nuclear plant.
Those documents contained an evaluation by technicians. It was clear the pressurizer was broken at the Tohoku nuclear plant, and the coolant pump and pipe needed evaluation. There was a clear risk of explosion if the plant continued to operate.
The Nikkei and Topix indices, which represented Japanese stock prices, began to plummet in real time, and Japanese citizens began to buy instant food such as ramen noodles and canned goods, as well as bottled water.
The entire economy was disrupted. Citizens who had been protesting in the Tohoku region and demanding shutdown of the nuclear plant ironically stopped rallying, as it was time to flee.
“The government will strictly monitor the risk of nuclear power plant operation, and if the risk level is high, we will shutdown the plant. We ask the public not to be agitated and to focus on their daily lives. The government will take full responsibility.”