Japan’s oversight of Fukushima radiation too lax: public concern about food

Japan nuclear safety plans too lax for crowded, quake-prone nation, say nuclear experts The Star, By: Mari Yamaguchi The Associated Press, Apr 08 2013 TOKYO—Experts who investigated Japan’s nuclear crisis said Monday that government oversight of the crippled plant’s operator is still too lax, as public concern has grown over recent safety problems.

A power failure last month caused by a rat that short-circuited a switchboard left the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant’s fuel storage pools without cooling water for more than a day. Last Friday another cooling failure occurred, and hours later the operator reported a large leak of radioactive water from underground tanks.

The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., revealed Saturday that up to 120 tons of highly contaminated water escaped from a temporary underground tank and a smaller amount from another tank. TEPCO said it believes the water has not flowed into the ocean.

Regulators asked TEPCO on Monday to determine the cause and contain the problem quickly.

But the investigators told parliament on Monday that the recently formed Nuclear Regulation Authority is merely rubber-stamping TEPCO’s work at the plant, which is still using makeshift equipment put together after the March 2011 disaster, caused by a massive earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan. The NRA began in September as a more independent, tougher regulator.

“The public is extremely concerned, especially about the latest contaminated water leak. Many people worry if it’s a good idea to leave the plant up to TEPCO and the regulators,” said Shuya Nomura, a lawyer who served on the 10-member investigation panel commissioned by parliament last year. “Regulators should demonstrate they can properly carry out the decades-long decommissioning process.” Another investigator, nuclear engineer Mitsuhiko Tanaka, said regulators give routine approval to work plans submitted by the utility.

“They make a risk assessment, submit their plans to the government and they’re approved,” he said. “It’s the same old routine.”

Nine of the investigators testified Monday at a parliamentary nuclear committee for the first time since releasing their findings in July. The report called the disaster “manmade,” and blamed regulator-operator collusion and botched crisis management.

Tanaka also said the authority has been too lenient in granting operators a five-year grace period for installing some safety equipment required under new regulations to take effect later this year. Other members said regulators have downplayed the risk of low-level radiation exposure. Only about half of the municipalities around Japan’s 50 nuclear facilities have finished compiling emergency measures for their 5 million residents.http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/04/08/japan_nuclear_safety_plans_too_lax_for_crowded_quakeprone_nation_say_nuclear_experts.html

April 9, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, safety

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