US Committee to draw lessons from 3/11

November 27, 2012

TEPCO failed to take enough safety measures before Fukushima disaster

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20121127p2g00m0dm033000c.html

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A senior official of Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Monday at a U.S. panel meeting in Tokyo that the company failed to take sufficient safety measures before last year's disaster at its Fukushima nuclear complex, fearing that taking such measures could "fuel the anxiety" of local people.

On the first day of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences' committee meeting through Wednesday, Akira Kawano, general manager of Tokyo Electric's Nuclear International Relations and Strategy Group, said the company "was concerned that safety measures, if taken, might rather fuel the anxiety of local people."

Kawano also said the nuclear crisis was caused because multiple protection measures at the complex were "not enough to fend off the tsunami that was beyond earlier assumptions."

Kiyoshi Kurokawa, who headed a Japanese Diet-appointed panel to investigate the Fukushima disaster, cited findings of his panel and told the U.S. committee those in responsible positions assumed nuclear power plant accidents would not occur.

The committee is tasked by the U.S. Congress to compile a report by the spring of 2014 to draw lessons from the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima plant crippled by the March 2011 earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

The committee's members will visit the Fukushima Daiichi complex on Friday.