Tuesday, January 30, 2018

"TEPCO refused in 2002 to calculate possible tsunami hitting Fukushima"


The Mainichi is reporting:
TEPCO refused in 2002 to calculate possible tsunami hitting Fukushima: ex-gov't official (January 30, 2018). Mainichi Japan. Available https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20180130/p2a/00m/0na/017000c Retrieved Jan 30 2018.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), operator of the disaster-stricken Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, refused in 2002 to calculate the potential effects of tsunami in case of an earthquake off Fukushima Prefecture when a now-defunct nuclear watchdog told the utility to conduct an evaluation, the Mainichi Shimbun has learned.

A former safety screening division official of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) told the Mainichi Shimbun on Jan. 29 that TEPCO did not accept the agency's request even though the latter tried to convince the utility after the government released a long-term assessment report that a major earthquake could hit off the Pacific coast including areas off Fukushima Prefecture, possibly triggering massive tsunami. This is the first time that exchanges between the then nuclear agency and TEPCO following the release of the government report have come to light.
MEANWHILE, FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI's RUINED GENERAL ELECTRIC REACTORS CONTAMINATE THE OCEAN AND ATMOSPHERE