nuclear-news

Former PM Kan now free to reveal Fukushima facts

Kan reveals Tokyo nuclear evacuation plans ABC Radio 774, Tokyo correspondent  September 19, 2011  Japan’s former prime minister Naoto Kan has revealed he contemplated evacuating as many as 30 million people from Tokyo and surrounding areas during the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Speaking to Japan’s Kyodo News, Mr Kan, who was prime minister during the nuclear crisis, said evacuations on such a scale may have led to Japan being unable to function.Mr Kan has since resigned from the prime ministership and can now speak more openly about the crisis.

He said he asked experts for “simulations of the worst case scenario” at the Fukushima nuclear plant. He said the experts explained that people living 200 to 250 kilometres from the plant would have to be evacuated…..

He also delivered a less-than-flattering assessment of TEPCO, the operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant. The former primer minister accuses the company of wanting to abandon the stricken nuclear plant at the height of the crisis and let its workers walk offsite for the reactors to bubble away.

Mr Kan says such a situation was “impossible” and he rejected TEPCO’s request. He also accused the firm of failing to communicate properly with both him and its head office.Mr Kan says TEPCO could not explain to him what was happening with the venting process at Fukushima to release radioactive steam.

”Even TEPCO officials [who were with me] at the prime minister’s office were unable to fully explain why they were not doing the venting so I wasn’t sure whether there was good communication between the TEPCO head office and the Fukushima plant,” he said….http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-19/kan-reveals-tokyo-evacuation-plans/2905474/?site=melbourne

September 19, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general