When the earthquake shook northeast Japan last March, American technician Carl Pillitteri (right in photo) was leading a team in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The earthquake lasted minutes, taking out the lights in the turbine building where Pillitteri’s team was working. They could not see anything and, as aftershocks came, had to rescue a crane operator who was stranded overhead.
Pillitteri led his team out of the building, but then he encountered the oncoming tsunami. In this extended interview with Alex Chadwick, host of the documentary series Burn: An Energy Journal, Carl talks about the impact of living through such an event, and the ruined restaurant that became a touchstone for him.