Yesterday, Tokyo Electric Power Company, the owner of the Fukushima nuclear power station, circulated a 13 minute silent walking tour of the inside and outside of the crippled facility. Today, they've released handout stills of what the view looked like from Fukushima as tsunami waves approached on March 11th.

The station, now classified on the same level as Chernobyl's nuclear crisis, withstood a tremendous amount of damage from the 8.9 magnitude quake and the tsunami waves that overran its defense system. As of now, TEPCO has announced a six to nine month timeline toward fully stabilizing the radiation-seeping plant.

A wide-view of tsunami waves approaching the plant:

Waves approach the No. 5 reactor:

Cars washed away at the plant:

The fourth floor of the radioactive waste building as water rushed in:

Photos via Reuters

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at ehayden at nationaljournal dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
Erik Hayden