Records show Japan gov't knew meltdown risk early
Source: Associated Press
Records show Japan gov't knew meltdown risk early
AP foreign, Friday March 9 2012
MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press= TOKYO (AP) — Just four hours after the tsunami swept into the Fukushima nuclear power plant, Japan's leaders knew the damage was so severe the reactors could melt down, but they kept their knowledge secret for months. Five days into the crisis, then-Prime Minister Naoto Kan voiced his fears it could turn worse than Chernobyl.
The revelations were in documents released Friday, almost a year after the disaster. The minutes of the government's crisis management meetings from March 11 — the day the earthquake and tsunami struck — until late December were not recorded and had to be reconstructed retroactively.
They illustrate the confusion, lack of information, delayed response and miscommunication among government, affected towns and plant officials, as some ministers expressed sense that nobody was in charge when the plant conditions quickly deteriorated.
The minutes quoted an unidentified official explaining that cooling functions of the reactors were kept running only by batteries that would last only eight hours.
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