Tepco can't yet be trusted to restart world's biggest nuclear plant: governor
Source: Reuters
Tokyo Electric Power Co must give a fuller account of the Fukushima disaster and address its "institutionalized lying" before it can expect to restart another nuclear station, the world's largest, said a local government official who holds an effective veto over the utility's revival plan.
"If they don't do what needs to be done, if they keep skimping on costs and manipulating information, they can never be trusted," Niigata Prefecture Governor Hirohiko Izumida told Reuters in an interview on Monday.
Izumida must approve the embattled utility's plans to restart the reactors at Kashiwazaki Kariwa, the world's biggest nuclear complex on the Japan Sea coast some 300 kms (180 miles) northwest of Tokyo.
A former economy and trade ministry bureaucrat who has emerged as a leading critic of Tokyo Electric, or Tepco, Izumida said he would launch his own commission to investigate the causes and handling of the Fukushima crisis and whether strengthened regulatory safeguards were sufficient to prevent a similar disaster.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/28/us-japan-nuclear-tepco-idUSBRE99R0KR20131028
The Kashiwazaki Kariwa plant was damaged in a 2007 earthquake.
Dopers_Greed
(2,640 posts)After several years and enough radiation released to kickstart the apocalypse.
PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)And I'm a TEPCO customer.
I will say this for TEPCO, though-- except for a couple months after the disaster when they had a few rolling blackouts in "non-critical" areas, they have managed to keep the power on for all of their service area, which includes roughly 40 million home and business customers.
JohnyCanuck
(9,922 posts)...says former Japanese PM.
Encountering the Fukushima Daiichi Accident
by
Naoto Kan
Former Prime Minister of Japan
The accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was the most severe accident in the history of mankind. At Unit 1, the fuel rods melted down in about five hours after the earthquake, and molten fuel breached and melted through the reactor pressure vessel. Meltdowns occurred in Units 2 and 3 within one hundred hours of the accident. At around the same time, hydrogen-air blasted in the reactor buildings of Units 1, 3 and 4.
snip
Before the Fukushima accident, with the belief that no nuclear accident would happen as long as the safety measures were followed properly, I had pushed the policy of utilizing nuclear power. Having faced the real accident as Prime Minister, and having experienced the situation which came so close to requiring me to order the evacuation of 50 million people, my view is now changed 180 degrees. Although some airplane crashes may claim hundreds of casualties, there are no other events except for wars that would require the evacuation of tens of millions of people.
In spite of the various measures taken in order to prevent accidents, it is technically impossible to eliminate accidents, especially if human factors such as terrorism are taken into account. Actually, it is not all that difficult to eliminate nuclear power plant accidents. All we need to do is to eliminate nuclear power plants themselves. And that resolution lies in the hands of the citizens.
There is another issue. Operating nuclear power plants means creating spent nuclear fuel. It takes enormous amounts of money and time to deal with nuclear waste. What this means is that we are leaving the huge problem of nuclear waste for future generations to care for. There is no other way but to go down in the path toward achieving zero nuclear power, for the sake of our children and grandchildren.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naoto-kan/japan-nuclear-energy_b_4171073.html
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)The world should bow to his knowledge and wisdom. It's either that or we will tumble, headlong into the abyss of a totally radiated world. There is still time. But one more 'accident' and it would be too late.
True Blue Door
(2,969 posts)The level of public rage needed to make a Japanese official talk like that about a major corporation is hard to imagine.
Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)The nuclear reactor Governor Izumida is talking about was damaged in a major earthquake 6 years ago.
The governor is not affiliated with a political party.
He's been governor of Niigata for 9 years.
So he is pretty much free to speak his mind, and retain the support of people in his prefecture.
True Blue Door
(2,969 posts)heaven05
(18,124 posts)geez