(Image Souce: The New York Times)
BY JIM FLINK
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The Japanese government -- is rocked by allegations it withheld information during the meltdown at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant.
Instead of steering evacuees way from the nuclear cloud, it allowed them to walk right into the heart of the contamination zone. And stay for more than a day.
Two news outlets -- the AP and New York Times -- have details on an apparent cover-up.
The New York Times reports -- government officials apparently knew of the dangers -- and willfully ignored relaying the message.
“In interviews and public statements... government officials have admitted that Japanese authorities engaged in a pattern of withholding damaging information and denying facts of the nuclear disaster -- in order, some of them said, to limit the size of costly and disruptive evacuations in land-scarce Japan and to avoid public questioning of the politically powerful nuclear industry.”
Not to mention inviting questions about a potential major conflict of interest.
Japan’s NHK-TV talks with two analysts who note, the nuclear power regulatory agency -- was also heavily involved in promoting nuclear power. And was afraid to damage the industry’s image further.
“This is an awful practice. The government has no choice but to dissolve the nuclear safety agency.”
“In Japan, reorganizing government ministries and agencies is very difficult because it means losing massive budgets and personnel for those institutions that are cut off and made independent.”
Japan’s Asahi Shimbun notes -- the collapse of confidence isn’t over yet. Because new information is just now coming to light about further meltdown at the plant.
Asahi reports -- TEPCO and government officials have admitted they aren’t sure about the situation at Fukushima’s reactor No 3.
“...their view until now has been that the melted fuel has settled at the bottom of the pressure vessel. Initially, officials of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency explained that the higher radiation levels were caused by radioactive materials falling to the ground with the rain. But there is also the possibility that additional radioactive materials emitted from the second meltdown may have been blown by the wind.”
Calls for reform now extend beyond energy -- to the nation’s food supply. The Japan Times reports,
government leaders were also giving out misleading information about tainted beef.
“Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto has committed an about-face on policy by telling his ministry to refrain from vouching for the safety of Japanese food. The ministry stance changed after radiation-tainted beef was found to have been sold to consumers nationwide...”
The blog fuel-fix notes, TEPCO, which ran the power plant, released more bad news today.
“The utility behind the unfolding Japanese nuclear disaster reported a $7.4 billion quarterly loss today and its president is expecting the red ink to swell over restoration and compensation costs.”
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