TEPCO, the Japanese utility in charge of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant that melted down last year, admitted on Friday that the disaster could have been averted. So why did it fail to act accordingly? Fear...
The utility said it could have done more to prevent the earthquake and tsunami-triggered disaster that became the world’s most severe nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl meltdown. TEPCO said it knew that it had to improve safety procedures at Fukushima before the 9.0-magnitude earthquake sent walls of water slamming into the facility on March 11, 2011.
The reasons TEPCO gives for not implementing certain safety procedures at the plant before the disaster include to a list of fears of what would happen if they admitted such measures were needed.
The report mentions the potential negative political and legal ramifications if the utility had admitted there were problems at the Fukushima plant that needed correcting.
“There was concern that if new severe accident measures were implemented, it could spread concern in the siting community that there is a problem with the safety of current plants,” the utility said in a report.
The report also said there was “concern of litigation risks” if there was an admission that “severe accident measures were necessary.”
At the same time, “there was concern that by implementing severe accident measures, it would exacerbate siting community and public anxiety and add momentum to anti-nuclear movements,” the report said.
Since the Fukushima disaster, anti-nuclear protests in Japan have been intense and public opinion of nuclear power has sharply declined. Before the accident, Japan was one of the most nuclear-dependent states in the world.
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