New Study Says Japan Lucky to Avoid Nuclear Meltdown

The authors of the most comprehensive independent report on Japan's nuclear reactor meltdowns last year say the country was “very lucky” to have avoided a “worst-case scenario” that would have prompted the evacuation of Tokyo. But they warn that dangers remain because of the way Japan's nuclear industry is managed and regulated and how plants in the country were built.

The 420-page report says the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant was made worse because the plant's nuclear reactors and spent fuel pools were too close to each other and, and that the same problem exists at other nuclear plants in Japan.