Tweet
Damage at Fukushima Daiichi as seen on March 18 (photo: DigitalGlobe)
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) missed required deadlines to inspect key equipment that failed after the massive earthquake and tsunami hit the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, according to Reuters. A separate Reuters report also points out that the TEPCO CEO has virtually disappeared from public appearances or statements. These reports fit perfectly with TEPCO’s history of previous scandals that have led to the resignations of high-level managers in the past.
Most analyses of the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant identify the failure of the diesel generators to provide electricity to the pumps which circulate water to cool the reactor cores and spent fuel pools at the six nuclear reactors as the key event that led to overheating of nuclear material. On Monday, Reuters reported that TEPCO’s website and the website of Japan’s nuclear regulatory agency document that TEPCO missed required deadlines for inspection of a number of pieces of equipment, including a diesel generator for reactor number one:
In a report submitted to Japan’s nuclear safety agency on February 28, Japan’s largest power utility, Tokyo Electric Power Co, said it had failed to inspect 33 pieces of equipment in the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi complex.
The equipment missed in scheduled inspections included a motor and a backup power generator for the No. 1 reactor, the firm said in a report available on a company website.
Reflecting a level of coziness between the regulated and regulators that reminds one of the way MMS allowed BP to run roughshod over it without filing a proper environmental impact statement for the Deepwater Horizon well, the regulatory agency in Japan responded that TEPCO’s inspection failure wasn’t likely to result in harm:
The nuclear safety agency said in its March 2 response, available on the agency’s website, that it did not believe there was an immediate risk to safety as a result of the missed inspections.
Oops.
On Sunday, Reuters pointed out that TEPCO CEO Masataka Shimizu has not been seen in public in a week:
Masataka Shimizu, chief executive of Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), has not made a public appearance in a week.
And he has yet to visit the crippled nuclear power plant north of Tokyo that was badly damaged in the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck on March 11, and where 300 workers are desperately trying to find ways to cool down the reactors.
The article also notes that Shimizu has left it to lower level spokespeople to respond to the frustrated requests for information from Japan’s press. This behavior is not going over well with at least one nuclear energy foe in Japan’s parliament:
Taro Kono, a prominent member of parliament with the Liberal Democratic Party and an opponent of nuclear power, was more blunt about TEPCO officials: “They don’t tell the truth … It’s in their DNA.”
The highest-ranking of the spokespeople on whom Shimizu has relied appears to be Managing Director Akio Komiri, who was seen in poignant photos crying as he left a press conference on Saturday.
Will the Japanese government hold TEPCO responsible for this disaster, or will the US example of giving a free pass to BP be repeated?
29 Comments
Ever increasing hidden subsidies to nuclear lobby in USA
U.S. Nuclear Subsidies Mask Real ‘Costs and Risks,’ Scientists Say
Sunshine State News
Kenric Ward
March 17, 2011
A report issued just days before Japan’s nuclear-reactor crisis warned that U.S. government subsidies to the industry inject financial instability.”Government subsidies to the nuclear power industry over the past 50 years have been so large in proportion to the value of the energy produced that in some cases it would have cost taxpayers less to simply buy kilowatts on the open market and give them away,” stated the study by the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The report — “Nuclear Power: Still Not Viable without Subsidies” — argues that tax breaks and other government-engineered deals fuel a continued rise in costs as the nuclear power lobby demands evermore support from taxpayers.
“Piling new subsidies on top of existing ones will provide the industry with little incentive to rework its business model to internalize its considerable costs and risks,” concluded the Cambridge, Mass.-based Union.
Alternatively, the UCS report recommended adopting market-oriented approaches to uranium mining royalties and waste- management financing, and incorporating the costs of preventing nuclear proliferation and terrorism into economic assessments of new reactors.
The Obama administration is currently proposing $54 billion in new government-backed loan guarantees to facilitate the construction of new nuclear power plants.
U.S. Nuclear Subsidies Mask Real ‘Costs and Risks,’ Scientists Say | Sunshine State News
SOURCE: http://nuclear-news.net/2011/03/18/ever-increasing-hidd… /
“It’s in their DNA.”
gee, ya think ?!?!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_Japan#Nuclear_accidents
TEPCO hid problems and faked repairs From: The Australian March 21, 2011 12:00AM Increase Text SizeDecrease Text SizePrintEmail Share
Add to DiggAdd to del.icio.usAdd to FacebookAdd to KwoffAdd to MyspaceAdd to NewsvineWhat are these?OSAKA: Days before Japan was plunged into an atomic crisis after an earthquake and tsunami knocked out power at the Fukushima plant, its operator had admitted faking repair records.
The revelation raises fresh questions about both Tokyo Electric Power Co’s scandal-tainted past and the government’s perceived soft regulation of a key industry.
The operator of the Fukushima No 1 plant submitted a report to the country’s nuclear watchdog 10 days before the quake hit on March 11, admitting it had failed to inspect 33 pieces of equipment in its six reactors there.
A power board distributing electricity to a reactor’s temperature control valves was not examined for 11 years, and inspectors faked records, pretending to make thorough inspections when in fact they were only cursory, TEPCO said. It also said inspections, which are voluntary, did not cover other devices related to cooling systems, including water pump motors and diesel generators.
Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.
.End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.
The report was submitted after the regulator ordered operators to examine whether inspections were suitably thorough.
“Long-term inspection plans and maintenance management were inadequate,” the nuclear safety agency concluded in a follow-up report two days after TEPCO’s admission. “The quality of inspection was insufficient.”
The safety agency ordered the operator to draw up a corrective plan by June 2.
But the magnitude-9 quake on March 11 unleashed a 10m tsunami, knocking out back-up generators for the plant’s cooling system, which keep fuel rods from overheating and releasing dangerous radiation.
A nuclear safety agency official who declined to be named said: “We can’t say that the lapses listed in the (February 28) report did not have an influence on the chain of events leading to this crisis. We will conduct thorough research on TEPCO’s activities up until this crisis but . . . for now we are only working on saving the plant.”
In 2002, TEPCO admitted falsifying reports that led to all 17 of its boiling-water reactors being shut down for inspection. The revelation forced the then TEPCO chairman and president to resign.
In an eerily familiar event, a 2007 earthquake paralysed its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant and more radiation leaked than TEPCO initially acknowledged.
AFP
“TEPCO CEO has virtually disappeared from public appearances or statements”
So he’s a typical CEO… Maybe he’s on a cruise with BP’s CEOs past and present.
On a related matter, Japanese officials issue appalling information to the public about the nature of the risks and protective actions. http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110321p2a00m0na006000c.html
yeah, I keep thinking about this – generally, they’re supposed to publicly apologize, deeply bow, then resign
although the Toyota CEO didn’t follow this script either, went off to Davos
anecdotal evidence it’s simply the Oligarchs world and we live in it ?
Disaster capitalists chomping at the bit to cash in.
No, today is not April 1st. He really did say that.
http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/03/warren-buffet-japans-crisis-creates-a-buying-opportunity/#
The US stock market today has returned to approximately where it was at the time of the earthquake.
Yup.
Doesn’t Warren Buffet also include Mitre Corporation in his investment portfolio?
That must mean US insurers aren’t expected to be taking much of a hit.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/171033.html
“And he has yet to visit the crippled nuclear power plant north of Tokyo that was badly damaged in the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck on March 11, and where 300 workers are desperately trying to find ways to cool down the reactors.”
But ,of course, the little people are expendable him ,he knows he would shorten his life quite a bit hanging out at the plant using his awesome executive powers to contain his mess.
Inspections too much of a financial burden. No concern for the people who will be hurt by their neligence…
At a certain point, I don’t think the evidence is anecdotal. The picture is clearly in focus: it’s the oligarchs’ world, and we live in it as abused citizens, abused workers, abused consumers.
Opportunists smelling all the profit in reconstruction, most likely.
Disaster capitalism.
Here’s a photo of a managing director showing some emotion. He’s not the top guy, but at least it’s something.
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8403
Precisely.
Anyone have any links related to unusual trading in “event contracts” just prior to 3/11?
http://www.cftc.gov/ucm/groups/public/@lrfederalregister/documents/frcomment/08-004c002.pdf
Surprise! Not.
Meanwhile, here in nuclear-power-is-safer-in-the-USA California, the LA Times reports that gosh, both San Onofre and Diablo Canyon have violated safety procedures for YEARS.
“Federal regulators have cited Southern California Edison’s 2,350-megawatt San Onofre nuclear power plant near San Clemente dozens of times in recent years for safety violations that include failed emergency generators, improperly wired batteries and falsified fire safety data, records show.
At Pacific Gas & Electric’s 2,240-megawatt Diablo Canyon facility on the Central Coast, inspectors in late 2009 found that safety valves designed to allow cooling water into the reactor core in emergencies had been stuck shut for 18 months.”
Read it, it just gets worse. Lies, manipulation of the law, safety violations, ignoring PUC directives….These guys are scum. I just HATED writing my SCE check yesterday, thought about writing “CLOSE SAN ONOFRE with a sharpie on the envelope, but it’ll just be tossed in the trash by an envelope-opening robot. Which is where our protests and calls for change will probably end up, dammit.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cal-nukes-20110321,0,2221136.story
This is simply another example of the consequences of turning over to for profit private industry the responsibility for providing the essential needs of the people. Product is important only in its profitability. It’s human nature.
Jane has a fresh cross-post up: VIDEO: Dan Ellsberg Handcuffed at White House for Protesting Obama’s Torture of Bradley Manning
Yes, and barely 40 yrs ago, major disasters led to executive suicides. I am not an advocate of that, but I agree the “culture” in Japan has changed. Hell, this TEPCO executive should be given a bonus if you employ Wall Street standards of accountability and “success” with disaster capitalism. Maybe we haven’t seen him because he is now a “free agent” to signed by any number of illustrious Fortune 500 companies for Board of Directors.
Thanks so much for highlighting this. Absolutely appalling!
The mega-wealthy seem to have a nose for sniffing out opportunities for themselves like this, don’t they?
Cashing in on the misfortunes of others. It’s what makes them special.
Eh? The wealthy call it a “buying opportunity,” or: Securities on Sale.
I’m totally unsurprised by this and, in fact, figured this is exactly what would happen. My family members were concerned about their holdings. I told them that US Stock Market would go back up this week in a buying frenzy. It’s pretty predictable. Not sure re the longer term, though, as the present Japanese situation is going to have an impact on various business decisions… there are already shortages in terms of goods & materials that Japan has been manufacturing and exporting. So there will be some “downturn” domino effect from loss of production in Japan. Just saying…
Yeah and rightwingers I know are *now* saying: why golly gosh the USG MUST go to these sites and, you know, *enforce* regulations.
And I say: with WHOSE tax dollars?????
I get dirty looks when I say that, for some reason.
Here & there, I venture to say stuff like: I *thought* the “market” would ensure that that things were run correctly, so why does the USG *now* have to come in to enforce regulations??? Shouldn’t the “invisible hand” of the market be, you know, enough to reassure us proles that these nuclear plants are, you know, run safely enough??
And then I get more dirty looks… I don’t know why, really, as I’m pretty much just parroting back the bullshit that they shovel out there daily….
Mr. Hand is really busy at the moment. One invisible hand is busy stroking the USG (and state) representatives and regulators while the other is busy stroking the major corporations involved in the nuke industry. Somehow he’s also stroking the media at the same time, so while amazingly talented, he’s much too busy to respond to The People.
(Sorry, I seem to be channeling George Carlin today)
There is no forgiving not following inspection requirements, external or internal, but it is almost certain the failure of the back up generators was due to design flaws or design inadequacy in their placement or protection or that of their fuel supplies.
I have so far seen no mention of the degree of flooding of the site by the tsunami. It certainly seems pretty low. I’ve only seen reference to sea walls just not quite high enough. Still that leaves the question of the water that rushed inland past the site and how much flooding it caused on-site when it receded.
Maybe it is just me that is fascinated by the nuts and bolt of the process as it unfolded but I suspect there is so little coverage of such things because the press is unable to think of good questions. So we get hundreds and thousands of stories giving the same set of warmed over disparate ‘facts’, many untrue.
The Japanese media are focusing on the disaster prevention aspects. Once the crisis is over there will be extensive examinations of what went wrong, I think. Also parliamentary investigations.
The generators were swamped by the tsunami according to a number of reports. And it appears that much of the switching equipment for the cooling system was in a “basement” that also flooded. These are known factors, but if the generators were nonfunctional before the flood, that’s even worse.