ABSTRACT
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex was central to a falsifi ed-records scandal that led to the departure of a number of senior executives of TEPCO as well as disclosures of previously unreported problems at the plant (Wikipedia 2011c). In 2002, TEPCO admitted it had falsifi ed safety records at the No. 1 reactor. Because of the scandal and a fuel leak at Fukushima, the company shut down all of its 17 reactors. A power board distributing electricity to a reactors’ temperature control valves was not examined for 11 years and inspections did not cover devices relating to cooling systems such as water pump motors and diesel generators. In addition to Japanese concerns about seismic activity, the International Atomic Energy Agency (2011) expressed concern about earthquake vulnerability and warned, in 2008, that a strong earthquake of 7.0 or greater could pose a serious problem. In March 2006, the Japanese government opposed a court order to close a nuclear plant in western Japan over its ability to withstand an earthquake. Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) believed that it was safe and that all safety analyses were appropriately conducted. On October 2nd, 2011, on request of the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, the Japanese government released a report from TEPCO to NISA revealing that TEPCO was aware of the possibility that the plant could be hit by a tsunami wave far higher than the 5.7 meters which the plant was designed to withstand. Simulations done in 2008, based on
the 1896 earthquake in this area, made it clear that waves between 8.4 and 10.2 meters could overfl ow the plant. Three years later, the report was sent to NISA where it arrived on March 7th, just 4 days before the tsunami. The issue was shelved until October 2012. TEPCO offi cials said the company did not feel the need to take prompt action on the estimates, which were still tentative calculations in the research stage, although NISA said that these results should have been made public and that the fi rm should have taken measures immediately (Wikipedia 2011c).
