nuclear-news

The transcript, recorded in 13 interviews from July to November 2011 as part of the lengthy government probe into the Fukushima crisis, was kept secret—at the request of Mr Yoshida. But after gathering dust for over two years it was partially leaked this year, first by the Asahi, Japan’s liberal flagship newspaper, then by its bitter conservative rival, the Sankei. Each has strikingly different interpretations of its contents.The Asahi, which is critical of attempts to restart the nation’s 50 idling reactors, found evidence of terrifying bungling by Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), the operator of the plant. In May it released extracts apparently showing that 650 of the 720 workers at the plant disobeyed Mr Yoshida’s orders and fled during the height of the crisis, when radiation spiked after a series of explosions. TEPCO failed to mention these orders in its official accounts of what occurred, said the paper.

But the Sankei mined the same extract and found confusion, not insubordination. Mr Yoshida’s orders were not properly conveyed, and in any case he later agreed with the workers’ decision to evacuate to the Daini plant about 10km away, it said. The newspaper accused the Asahi of “twisting” Mr Yoshida’s account to further the anti-nuclear cause.

Arguments over what took place have simmered for over three years and both sides have well-entrenched positions: one seeking to highlight the managerial and political fault-lines of the nuclear industry, the other trying to shift blame elsewhere, particularly on to Naoto Kan, who was Japan’s prime minister in 2011…….http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2014/09/japans-nuclear-disaster