This is the 11th in a series on the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe based on the accounts of people who struggled to contain the crisis in its early stages. Job titles and ages are as of March 2011.
Fearing a massive discharge of radiation on March 15, 2011, Fukushima No. 1 plant chief Masao Yoshida told Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s head office in Tokyo that he had to consider evacuating the majority of on-site employees.