TEPCO needs to stop ignoring the 'inconvenient'

[AsahinaKimi]

BY TORU OMUTA SCIENCE AND MEDICAL NEWS EDITOR

Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s timetable for stabilizing the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant promises: "We will devote ourselves wholeheartedly so that evacuees can return home and the people in Japan can live with peace of mind."

We believe in the efforts by the many employees of TEPCO, the operator of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

However, even now, the company does not change its corporate posture that "what is inconvenient should be ignored as much as possible."

What is typical of this is seen in the melting down of fuel rods. A series of reports, including one by The Asahi Shimbun reported a view that core meltdowns had taken place in the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 reactors immediately after the period when they entered a "boil-dry situation."

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105180362.html