TEPCO: Fukushima meltdown announcement made months late

TEPCO: Fukushima meltdown announcement made months late

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The reactor meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant hit by a devastating tsunami in 2011 should have been announced much sooner, the operator admitted this week.
In a statement, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said that a public declaration of the meltdown should have been done within days of the disaster.
It did not reveal that a meltdown was taking place for almost two months.
More than 160,000 people were evacuated from the area near the Fukushima meltdown, the worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
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    A TEPCO employee measures a radiation level of 213 microsieverts per hour in front of the No. 2, left, and No. 3 reactor buildings on February 10.
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    A TEPCO employee measures a radiation level of 213 microsieverts per hour in front of the No. 2, left, and No. 3 reactor buildings on February 10.
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    A worker approaches the No. 3 reactor on February 10.
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    A worker approaches the No. 3 reactor on February 10.
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    A worker levels out the ground at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on February 10.
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    A worker levels out the ground at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on February 10.
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    Workers, wearing protective suits and masks, stand near the No. 3 and No. 4 reactor buildings on February 10.
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    Workers, wearing protective suits and masks, stand near the No. 3 and No. 4 reactor buildings on February 10.
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    A TEPCO employee walks past the No. 1 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on February 10, 2016. Next month, Japan will mark the fifth anniversary of the Fukushima disaster, when an earthquake and tsunami hit on March 11, 2011, leaving more than 15,000 people dead.
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    A TEPCO employee walks past the No. 1 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on February 10, 2016. Next month, Japan will mark the fifth anniversary of the Fukushima disaster, when an earthquake and tsunami hit on March 11, 2011, leaving more than 15,000 people dead.
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    TEPCO employees, in blue protective suits, brief a press group in front of storage tanks for radioactive water on Februray 10.
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    TEPCO employees, in blue protective suits, brief a press group in front of storage tanks for radioactive water on Februray 10.
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    A member of the tour group, donning a protective suit and a mask, takes a look at the crippled No. 3 reactor on February 10.
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    A member of the tour group, donning a protective suit and a mask, takes a look at the crippled No. 3 reactor on February 10.
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    3 of 7
    A TEPCO employee measures a radiation level of 213 microsieverts per hour in front of the No. 2, left, and No. 3 reactor buildings on February 10.
    7 photos: Inside Fukushima: Cleanup underway, 5 years on
    A TEPCO employee measures a radiation level of 213 microsieverts per hour in front of the No. 2, left, and No. 3 reactor buildings on February 10.
    Hide Caption
    4 of 7
    A worker approaches the No. 3 reactor on February 10.
    7 photos: Inside Fukushima: Cleanup underway, 5 years on
    A worker approaches the No. 3 reactor on February 10.
    Hide Caption
    5 of 7
    A worker levels out the ground at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on February 10.
    7 photos: Inside Fukushima: Cleanup underway, 5 years on
    A worker levels out the ground at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on February 10.
    Hide Caption
    6 of 7
    Workers, wearing protective suits and masks, stand near the No. 3 and No. 4 reactor buildings on February 10.
    7 photos: Inside Fukushima: Cleanup underway, 5 years on
    Workers, wearing protective suits and masks, stand near the No. 3 and No. 4 reactor buildings on February 10.
    Hide Caption
    7 of 7
    A TEPCO employee walks past the No. 1 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on February 10, 2016. Next month, Japan will mark the fifth anniversary of the Fukushima disaster, when an earthquake and tsunami hit on March 11, 2011, leaving more than 15,000 people dead.
    7 photos: Inside Fukushima: Cleanup underway, 5 years on
    A TEPCO employee walks past the No. 1 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on February 10, 2016. Next month, Japan will mark the fifth anniversary of the Fukushima disaster, when an earthquake and tsunami hit on March 11, 2011, leaving more than 15,000 people dead.
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    TEPCO employees, in blue protective suits, brief a press group in front of storage tanks for radioactive water on Februray 10.
    7 photos: Inside Fukushima: Cleanup underway, 5 years on
    TEPCO employees, in blue protective suits, brief a press group in front of storage tanks for radioactive water on Februray 10.
    Hide Caption
    2 of 7
    A member of the tour group, donning a protective suit and a mask, takes a look at the crippled No. 3 reactor on February 10.
    7 photos: Inside Fukushima: Cleanup underway, 5 years on
    A member of the tour group, donning a protective suit and a mask, takes a look at the crippled No. 3 reactor on February 10.
    Hide Caption
    3 of 7
    A TEPCO employee measures a radiation level of 213 microsieverts per hour in front of the No. 2, left, and No. 3 reactor buildings on February 10.
    7 photos: Inside Fukushima: Cleanup underway, 5 years on
    A TEPCO employee measures a radiation level of 213 microsieverts per hour in front of the No. 2, left, and No. 3 reactor buildings on February 10.
    Hide Caption
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    Regulations ignored

    The company said internal regulations that a meltdown should be declared if damage to the reactor core exceeded 5% were not followed.
    Damage to one of the reactor cores exceeded 50% within three days of the tsunami, but TEPCO did not acknowledge that a meltdown was taking place until months later.
    While it did not tell the public until May, TEPCO said that it had informed the government of the ongoing meltdown within days of the disaster, as required by law.
    "We apologize for the great inconvenience and worry" the delay caused, TEPCO said.

    Sensitive topic

    Whether or not to declare a meltdown was a fraught and politically charged decision at the time, both at TEPCO and within the Japanese government.
    TEPCO previously admitted in a 2012 report that it played down safety risks at the Fukushima plant out of fear that additional measures would lead to a plant shutdown and further fuel public anxiety and anti-nuclear movements.
    After Koichiro Nakamura, a senior Nuclear and Industry Safety Agency (NISA) official told a news conference a day after the disaster that a "meltdown of the reactor's core" may be taking place, he was removed from a PR position at the agency.
    NISA was heavily criticized after the disaster for a perceived conflict of interest, given that its parent organization, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, is responsible for promoting nuclear power in Japan. The agency was abolished in 2012 and a new body set up under the Ministry of Environment.

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