Call for greater transparency

U.S. frustrated at lack of information from Japan after disaster

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20120224p2g00m0dm024000c.html

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A U.S. official, who was sent to Japan shortly after last March's earthquake and tsunami as head of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission team to see what was happening with the nuclear disaster, recently recalled the frustration the U.S. side felt over the lack of information from Japan in the early days of the crisis.

Nuclear regulator Charles Casto told Kyodo News in a telephone interview from Atlanta this week that the Japanese government did not accept the United States' offer to permanently station nuclear experts at the prime minister's office and indicated that it was 10 days after the March 11 disaster that communication between the two countries became smooth.

Casto also said the NRC had predicted that a radioactive plume from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant could reach as far as 38 kilometers northwest of the plant in Fukushima Prefecture.

Based on the estimate as well as opinions in the U.S. military, which had been concerned over the slight rise in radiation levels at the U.S. Navy's Yokosuka base in Kanagawa Prefecture, he said the U.S. government issued an advisory for nationals to evacuate from areas within 80 km of the plant -- roughly double the projected figure.

Casto, who arrived in Japan days after the disaster, said one of the first issues his team had to handle was evacuating U.S. citizens and "ensuring immediate action to get water on the spent fuel pools and the reactors."

But the team's efforts hit a snag as Japan rejected a proposal made on March 14 by U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos to then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano to place a member of the U.S. team at the prime minister's office.

Casto said the purpose of the U.S. request was to be able to "get information...to protect American citizens" without "overly burdening" Japanese officials, as the U.S. team member would be able to see the information directly and report back to the ambassador.

Following Japan's rejection, Casto said he dispatched his team's members to such entities as the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency -- Japan's nuclear regulator under the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry -- the Defense Ministry and Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the Fukushima plant, to gather information.

The first meeting between Japanese and U.S. officials took place on March 16 under the lead of the Defense Ministry, but confusion continued because the ministry did not have enough of the information the United States was seeking, he said.

Finally, a meeting involving experts and officials in charge from the two countries was held on the night of March 21 at the proposal of Goshi Hosono, who was a special adviser to then Prime Minister Naoto Kan, and it was followed by regular communication between the two sides.

"Frustration was built from the 16th to the 20th, of lack of information, confusing stories," recalled Casto, who was the U.S. team's head until he left Japan on Feb. 2 and visited the Fukushima Daiichi plant six times during the 10-and-a-half-month period.

"It's an honor," Casto said of his mission in Japan, emphasizing that it is important that the United States and Japan work together to overcome the unprecedented nuclear disaster. "I love Japan. I love the people. It feels like it's my second home now," he added.

Casto's current formal title is deputy regional administrator for construction in Region 2, based in Atlanta. He will move to the NRC's Chicago office soon.