Japanese nuke plant operator admits faults
Source: Agencies |
December 15, 2012, Saturday
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THE operator of a Japanese nuclear power plant that blew up after a tsunami last year said yesterday that its lack of safety and bad habits were behind the world's worst nuclear accident in 25 years, its most forthright admission of culpability.
The operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co or Tepco, said it accepted the findings of a parliamentary inquiry into the Fukushima nuclear disaster that accused the company of "collusion" with industry regulators.
An earthquake on March 11, 2011, generated a tsunami that smashed into the nuclear plant on Japan's northeast coast and triggered equipment failures that led to meltdowns and the spewing of large amounts of radiation into the air and sea.
Takefumi Anegawa, the head of a company reform task force, said the report by a parliamentary panel contained "so many descriptions about the lack of a safety culture and our bad habits."
"We admit, we completely admit, that part of the parliamentary report," Anegawa, told a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan.
He was responding to a question on whether the company accepted the parliamentary committee's findings that the disaster was preventable and the result of "collusion" between the company and regulators.
Tepco President Naomi Hirose said several months ago that he was baffled by criticism of the company, which until recently has denied it could have foreseen the scale of the tsunami and quake that knocked out cooling and power at the plant, despite warnings from scientists.
The once well-respected utility, now under government control, has been widely castigated for its failure to prepare for the disaster, and lampooned for its inept response as the crisis unfolded.
In October, 18 months after the disaster, the company admitted for the first time it could have been avoided.
Anegawa, who has worked at the Fukushima plant, said there were some misunderstandings in the "technological part" of the report.
"But (for) most of the investigation of our organization culture, we admit that, and we will try to change," he said.
Three reactors melted down at the plant, causing the worst radiological release since Chernobyl in 1986, contaminating wide areas of land and forcing about 160,000 people from their homes. Many of those people are unlikely to ever go home.
All of Japan's 50 nuclear reactors were shut down for safety checks after the disaster and only two have resumed operating.
The operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co or Tepco, said it accepted the findings of a parliamentary inquiry into the Fukushima nuclear disaster that accused the company of "collusion" with industry regulators.
An earthquake on March 11, 2011, generated a tsunami that smashed into the nuclear plant on Japan's northeast coast and triggered equipment failures that led to meltdowns and the spewing of large amounts of radiation into the air and sea.
Takefumi Anegawa, the head of a company reform task force, said the report by a parliamentary panel contained "so many descriptions about the lack of a safety culture and our bad habits."
"We admit, we completely admit, that part of the parliamentary report," Anegawa, told a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan.
He was responding to a question on whether the company accepted the parliamentary committee's findings that the disaster was preventable and the result of "collusion" between the company and regulators.
Tepco President Naomi Hirose said several months ago that he was baffled by criticism of the company, which until recently has denied it could have foreseen the scale of the tsunami and quake that knocked out cooling and power at the plant, despite warnings from scientists.
The once well-respected utility, now under government control, has been widely castigated for its failure to prepare for the disaster, and lampooned for its inept response as the crisis unfolded.
In October, 18 months after the disaster, the company admitted for the first time it could have been avoided.
Anegawa, who has worked at the Fukushima plant, said there were some misunderstandings in the "technological part" of the report.
"But (for) most of the investigation of our organization culture, we admit that, and we will try to change," he said.
Three reactors melted down at the plant, causing the worst radiological release since Chernobyl in 1986, contaminating wide areas of land and forcing about 160,000 people from their homes. Many of those people are unlikely to ever go home.
All of Japan's 50 nuclear reactors were shut down for safety checks after the disaster and only two have resumed operating.
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