Chernobyl was built poorly and Japan was stupid for putting it next to the ocean
Uh...EVERYTHING is next to the ocean in Japan! The only exception is mountain tops, which are unbuildable land.
Despite the reactors being destroyed at Fukushima, no deaths were due to radiation poisoning. The only plant workers killed were killed by the tsunami itself (which wiped out much of eastern Japan). The quake that caused it was highly unusual in it's intensity and location.
Japan is part of the Ring of Fire...a volcanic and earthquake prone zone surrounding the North Pacific. Earthquakes are common in this zone. California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska are also in this zone.
Japan doesn't have a lot of buildable land. It is the reason housing is so expensive in Japan. Most live in tiny apartments that are only a few tatami mats in size. In the US, there are RVs larger than most apartments in Japan.
Worse, there are TWO electrical systems in Japan, running on different specifications. This stems back to the older days when Japan was two different nations, an east Japan and a west Japan. Back then, East Japan's capital city was Tokyo. The Western Japan capital city was Kyoto. The electrical grid in eastern Japan was useless for providing the necessary power to western Japan to prevent the pumps and emergency shutdown systems from failing as the tsunami damage took out the power station.
The destroyed remnants of the reactor are currently being dismantled by specially equipped robots (that are built in the States!). Despite Japan's love of robotics, they had nothing to do a job like this.
