Is TEPCO to be trusted?

 February 26, 2015

Yoroku: TEPCO must not fear telling the truth on Fukushima plant leaks

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/perspectives/news/20150226p2a00m0na013000c.html

There's a Japanese saying that goes, "A leak is more frightening that tigers and wolves." According to an Edo period dictionary, it means, "People's mouths are scarier than those of wild beasts, because saying things that should not leak out causes disasters. It is a warning that what comes out of our own mouths is to be feared more than the jaws of beasts."

There might be some people who thought the expression in fact came from the old folktale "Furuya no mori" (The leaky old house), in which an old house that leaks in the rain is more scary than tigers and wolves. That literal "leak," too, is almost certainly covered by this saying, and the Edo dictionary quoted above also states that its warning against spilling secrets has been shifted to mean actual leaky roofs. It seems there are some who say the meaning shifted in the opposite direction.

It has been nearly four years since the triple meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, and almost as long since plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) declared the disaster "under control." This was and is an exaggeration, as we can see with the ongoing battle to deal with repeated radioactively contaminated water leaks.

Following news on Feb. 22 that water with concentrations of radioactive material 70 times higher than normal was being discharged into the plant's harbor from a drainage ditch, we learned yesterday that this contaminated water was also escaping into the open sea. What's more, TEPCO now says it had known this water -- which collects atop the No. 2 reactor building before running down drain spouts to the ditch -- was heavily contaminated since spring 2014, but made no public announcement until now. The utility hadn't even reported the situation to the government.

This terribly managed contaminated water problem is certainly scarier than tigers and wolves. What's truly deplorable, however, is how insensitive, how clumsy TEPCO is when it comes to releasing information. Because of the company's reticence, it is bound to be suspected of trying to hide the inconvenient fact of the leak. Both local fishing cooperatives and Fukushima Prefecture, too, are wondering openly if they can trust TEPCO.

Without the trust of the locals, TEPCO will find it well-nigh impossible to make progress on contaminated water disposal and the eventual decommissioning of the ruined Fukushima reactors. This radioactive water leak is unacceptable, but so is misreading what we need to fear most. ("Yoroku," a front-page column in the Mainichi Shimbun)