Wall Street Journal
Panel Appointed by Firm Criticize Slow Release of Information
TOKYO—As problems mount at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant, more experts and overseers are accusing the operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. 9501.TO -9.84% of incompetence in how it is dealing with one of the world's worst nuclear accidents.An advisory panel of outside experts—appointed by Tepco itself—blasted the utility on Friday for its slow release of information about a recent leak of radioactive water.
The panel, which is tasked with making recommendations to improve Tepco's performance after the missteps surrounding the 2011 accident, said that the company needed to improve its risk management, communication and water-management planning.
"I'd like to say myself how disappointed and distressed I was when I arrived in Japan," said Barbara Judge, a former chair of the British Atomic Energy Authority and deputy chair of the panel. "To find that communications with respect to the leak problem have been so difficult and so late was very devastating," she said.
Underscoring the concerns, just a day after the panel's meeting, the utility said that it had found new dangerous levels of radiation in a trench near one of the heavily damaged reactors.
Earlier in the week, Japan's nuclear regulator had also expressed skepticism about Tepco's ability to keep the situation at the damaged plant under control.
"It is simply too big for one company to handle," said Shunichi Tanaka, Nuclear Regulation Authority chairman, at a news conference Wednesday. "Placing all the burden (of controlling the site) on them won't solve the problem."
Mr. Tanaka suggested that the government may have to eventually step in with money and other resources to help out.
"As the organization in charge, we can only say we will tackle the challenges in a responsible manner," a Tepco spokesman said in reply to Mr. Tanaka's comments.
Tepco's decommissioning effort has already been aided by ¥99.7 billion ($1 billion) in government financing for research and development of new technologies, he said, and Tepco is planning to work with nuclear-equipment makers such as Hitachi Ltd. and Toshiba Corp.in dismantling the plant.
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Japan Daily Press
International nuclear experts tell TEPCO ‘You don’t know what you’re doing’
Two international nuclear experts who were invited to a nuclear reform monitoring panel took to task the organizer, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) for their handling of the toxic water leaks at their crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The operator has been facing problem after problem ever since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami resulted in a nuclear meltdown in Fukushima, the worst nuclear disaster in recent history.
Dale Klein, former head of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) bluntly told the panel, composed of two foreign experts and four Japanese members including TEPCO’s chief executive, that their actions indicate they “don’t know what you are doing,” and that they do not have a conservative decision-making process. “It also appears that you are not keeping the people of Japan informed…and that you are not doing all you can to protect the environment and the people,” Klein blasted at TEPCO. He added that everyone is frustrated with the recent developments, and that because of this all the progress they’ve made on the clean-up at the plant will go unnoticed.
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Radiation in the water at Fukushima as high as in 2011
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said Saturday it has detected 2.35 billion becquerels of cesium per liter from water in an underground passage at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that is leaking into the sea. This is roughly the same level as the level of radiation measured in April 2011, shortly after the nuclear disaster the preceding month.
The water sample taken Friday from a trench contained 750 million becquerels of cesium-134 and 1.6 billion becquerels of cesium-137 per liter, while 750 million becquerels of other radioactive substances were detected, according to TEPCO, quoted by Kyodo.
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