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New panel to undertake deeper probe of Fukushima disaster
Calcutta News.Net
Monday 16th January, 2012
TOKYO - The leader of an investigation panel of Japan's nuclear disaster has decided to proceed with its own probe into the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster following the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and not accept the preliminary report of a government appointed panel.
"For Japan to regain global credibility, we need an investigation into the disaster that is completely independent," Panel chairman Kiyoshi Kurokawa said Monday in an interview.
The 10-member team, appointed last month by Parliament, is the first with the power to subpeona witnesses. It will probe into how much the March earthquake may have damaged the plant's reactors even before the tsunami.
Assuring that the panel "would investigate that issue vigorously", Kurokawa said, "The lessons Japan can learn are globally relevant, because such a disaster can happen again."
Kurokawa, a former leader of Tokyo University's medical department and a professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, has lined up a prominent team, including the Nobel laureate Koichi Tanaka. The committee has its first full meeting Monday.
The government's own investigation team said in preliminary findings last month that Japan's nuclear crisis management was marred by erroneous assumptions about equipment, delayed disclosure of radiation leaks, lack of coordinated action and other lapses.
Kurokawa announcement comes ahead of the review of the preliminary report of the government appointed panel.
The decision to appoint a bipartisan panel has been spurred by public criticism that the government has been more interested in protecting vested industry interests than in discovering how three reactors were allowed to melt down.
Probes so far by the plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), and the government have blamed the tsunami that struck Japan's northeastern coast in March for the disaster that has displaced more than 100,000 people and contaminated large swaths of agriculture land.
But critics in Japan and overseas have called for a fuller accounting of whether Tepco sufficiently considered historically documented tsunami risks, and whether it could have done more to minimize the damage once waves hit the plant.
The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) is meanwhile preparing a report based on findings of tests run by Kansai Electric Power Co on its Ohi No.3 and No.4 reactors, reports Reuters.
"We're organising data and findings from the past discussions of stress test reports, aiming to discuss mainly the No.3 and No.4 Ohi reactors on Jan. 18," a NISA official, who did not want to be identified, told Reuters.
The panel's approval would pave the way for further review by Japan's Nuclear Safety Commission, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and relevant cabinet ministers.
The panel is also expected to look into test results from Hokkaido Electric Power's Tomari No.1 and No.2 units and Shikoku Electric Power's Ikata No.3 unit.
The government ordered the stress tests and computer simulations of how reactors would withstand severe shocks such as the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that ravaged Japan's northeast on March 11 -- to overcome public opposition to restarting of reactors taken offline for regular checks.
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