Fukushima Disaster Blame Belongs with Top Leaders at Utilities, Government and Regulators
The nuclear disaster could and should have been avoided, according to an independent commission investigating the accident in Japan
Long-standing collusion between Japan's regulators and industry set the stage for the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, a tragedy that could and should have been avoided, according to an independent commission investigating the accident.
In a report released yesterday, the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission (NAIIC) identifies a long list of technical failures that contributed to the disaster, laying blame squarely on the shoulders of the energy utilities, regulators and the government.
Those parties "effectively betrayed the nation's right to be safe from nuclear accidents," the report says. "Therefore, we conclude that the accident was clearly 'manmade.'"
The inquiry also raises concerns that a magnitude-9.0 earthquake may have damaged the Fukushima plant more profoundly than had been previously acknowledged. A previous in-house report by the plant's owner, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), downplayed the significance of the earthquake, focusing instead on the tsunami that wiped out backup generators and impeded crews' access to the site.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=fukushima-blame-utilities-goverment-leaders-regulators&WT.mc_id=SA_DD_20120709
