Hitachi
[key], city, Ibaraki prefecture, E central Honshu, Japan, on the Kashima
Sea. The city, a leading producer of Japan's electrical equipment, is the
largest commercial port in the prefecture. A nuclear fuel plant in
Tokaimura, 15 mi (24 km) southwest of Hitachi, was the site of an accident
involving an uncontrolled chain reaction in 1999. The tsunami that followed
the 2011 NE Honshu earthquake damaged Hitachi's port, but other parts of the
city were largely unscathed.
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