nuclear-news

Fukushima shows government and industry’s breach of trust

Around this shrinking globe, like it or not, our fates are tied more and more closely together…….. what about the responsibility we all share to inform and protect one another? We expect our leaders and institutions to protect us when disaster hits. We expect nuclear plant operators to warn us when a reactor has breached. We expect them not to hide, not to lie, and not to procrastinate the delivery of bad news. We trust them. And they breach our trust.

BREACH…of Trust, Forbes, Davia Temin , 30 April, ‘…… as time went by, we found that the [Fukushima] situation was really far more dire than we had been told. Nuclear reactor rods had become exposed, and radioactive material had been flowing into the ocean, possibly from the start. There had been a nuclear BREACH, but few inside or outside of Japan had been informed.

Shades of Toyota and British Petroleum — why had the public not been told right away?  We understand that in the midst of chaos and fatal disaster the first obligation of an organization is not to hold a press conference. But, as time went by, what was the responsibility of TEPCO, the Japanese utility that runs Fukushima, to tell Japanese citizens, and the world’s citizens, what was going on?

In fact, what occurred were two major breaches in Japan – one nuclear, the other of trust. How much radiation exposure did the average Japanese receive in those desperate moments and days? Should they have evacuated more widely, sooner? What are the true parameters of the disaster? How does this breach affect the rest of the world? Should parents in North Dakota watch how much milk their babies drink? What about in Indonesia, or in Tokyo?

Around this shrinking globe, like it or not, our fates are tied more and more closely together…….. what about the responsibility we all share to inform and protect one another? We expect our leaders and institutions to protect us when disaster hits. We expect nuclear plant operators to warn us when a reactor has breached. We expect them not to hide, not to lie, and not to procrastinate the delivery of bad news. We trust them. And they breach our trust.

I see it time and time again in my work…some organizations believe that if they do not acknowledge a problem, it will not exist……. http://blogs.forbes.com/daviatemin/2011/04/29/breach-of-trust/

April 30, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general