The plant comprises six separate boiling water reactors originally designed by General Electric(GE), and maintained by the Tokyo Electric Company(TEPCO). At the time of the quake, Reactor 4 had been de-fuelled while 5 and 6 were in cold shutdown for planned maintenance.
The remaining reactors shut down automatically after the earthquake,
and emergency generators came online to control electronics and coolant
systems. The tsunami broke the reactors' connection to the power grid
and also resulted in flooding of the rooms containing the emergency
generators. Consequently those generators ceased working and the pumps
that circulate coolant water in the reactor ceased to work, causing the
reactors to begin to overheat. The flooding and earthquake damage hindered external assistance
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