Japanese Parliamentary Investigation Concludes Fukushima Was a Manmade Disaster
SilverVigilante
A Japanese independent parliamentary investigation has asserted that “the Fukushima nuclear disaster was the result of a mix of ‘man-made’ factors including regulators who failed to provide adequate prevention and a government lacking commitment to protect the public.”
According to the panel’s chairman, Tokyo University professor emeritus Kiyoshi Kurokawa, Fukushima “cannot be regarded as a natural disaster.” Instead, “It was a profoundly manmade disaster – that could and should have been foreseen and prevented. And its effects could have been mitigated by a more effective human response.”
The report, released today in Tokyo, cannot “rule out the earthquake on March 11 last year caused damage to Tokyo Electric Co. (9501)’s Dai-Ichi No. 1 reactor and safety equipment.” The dominant consensus until now has been that the reactors withstood the earthquake but succumbed to the tsunami.
The investigation lasted six-months. The first of its kind, it held public hearings with former Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Tokyo Electric Power Co’s ex-president Masataka Shimizu. They gave conflicting accounts of disaster response at Fukushima.