It was a very, very close thing.
On March 11, 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan suffered major damage from a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami.
The disaster disabled the reactor cooling systems, leading to the release of radioactivity that resulted in an 18-mile evacuation zone around the plant.
Radiation continues to be released to this day.
Nova will document the dramatic minute-by-minute account in "Nuclear Meltdown Disaster" at 8 p.m. Wednesday on PBS and AETN. The tale will be told by the workers who stayed behind in the crippled plant.
Just 7 miles away at the same time the meltdown occurred at the Daiichi power plant, heroic efforts of operators under the leadership of Naohiro Masuda saved a second plant, Fukushima Daini.
Today, Masuda faces the herculean challenge of cleaning up Daiichi, "where a witches' brew of radioactive groundwater leaks into the Pacific every day, and three melted cores remain steaming hot and lethally unapproachable."
Granted unprecedented access, Nova reveals the little-known story of how Masuda and his team averted disaster at Daini and how workers are struggling to clean up the mess at Daiichi.
The special asks, "With billions of dollars and the future of the nuclear energy industry on the line, can Japan recover from disaster? The world is watching the fight for Fukushima."
The special is followed at 9 p.m. by Part II of Uranium -- Twisting the Dragon's Tail hosted by physicist Derek Muller. The two-part series examines the mysteries one of Earth's most controversial elements.
Muller notes, "Uranium has brought hope, progress and destruction; revolutionized society, from medicine to warfare; and profoundly shaped the past."
• Jon Snow rumors. Hardly a day goes by when the fans of HBO's Game of Thrones don't add fuel to the "Jon Snow Lives" fire.
Snow (Kit Harington), the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, was betrayed and stabbed six times in the gut (et tu, Olly?) by long pointy daggers in the Season 5 finale. We last see him bleeding out in the snow, lifeless eyes starring into the void.
Ah, but this is Game of Thrones, where beloved fan favorites are beheaded and the dead are brought back to life.
We are already out of source material at the end of Season 5 and into uncharted territory with all our characters. The producers and Harington have stated outright that Jon Snow is dead. Yeah. OK. But then why show Melisandre (Carice van Houten) arriving at Castle Black shortly before the mutineers pull an Ides of March on Jon Snow?
Yes, Jon Snow could very well be dead, but then Melisandre could channel the strength of the Lord of Light to bring the Lord Commander back.
More fuel? A long-haired and bearded Harington was seen arriving last week in Belfast for the first Season 6 table read. Harington, along with other actors with major roles, is under contract through Season 7.
Finally, fans of Martin's books who study this stuff in minute detail know that as author George R.R. Martin continues to write The Winds of Winter, Jon Snow is in contention to be identified not as Ned Stark's bastard son, but as a secret Targaryen and, in the end, a dragon rider.
I could live with that.
Game of Thrones Season 6 will air in 2016.
• End times. Further evidence that the end of civilization as we know it is nigh has arrived. The FYI Channel has announced that Khloe Kardashian will host and produce a "hybrid" talk series titled Kocktails With Khloe. The series is set for late this year.
Hybrid? In the series, the 31-year-old TV personality and entrepreneur "will be joined in the kitchen and at the dinner table by celebrity guests and friends for conversation, cooking and party games."
Never heard of the FYI Channel? Formerly known as The Biography Channel, it was rebranded last year as a "contemporary lifestyle network." FYI is owned by A&E Networks, which is a 50/50 venture between Disney-ABC Television Group (a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Co.) and the Hearst Corporation.
Never heard of Khloe Kardashian? Consider yourself fortunate.
• Fear scheduled. For those who missed the memo, the premiere date for AMC's highly anticipated Fear the Walking Dead is 8 p.m. Aug. 23. The series is a semi-prequel to The Walking Dead.
The series is set in Los Angeles at the beginning of the zombie apocalypse and stars Kim Dickens and Cliff Curtis.
The Walking Dead began with Rick Grimes waking up in a hospital to find zombies already running rampant. In the new series, we'll see how it all began.
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Style on 07/28/2015