Fukushima operator turned down tsunami simulation plan 9yrs before disaster

Nine years before disaster struck the Fukushima nuclear plant, its operator TEPCO rejected a government watchdog’s advice to carry out a tsunami simulation. The company cited a lack of evidence regarding a tsunami threat.


A government research group warned that large tsunami waves could hit anywhere along the Pacific coast of Japan back in July 2002. The group referred to a 20-percent tsunami probability over the following 30 years.

The now-reformed nuclear watchdog, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), decided to act on the report and requested that Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) stage a simulation of a possible tsunami, according to a testimony from NISA official Shuji Kawahara, who headed a team responsible for quake safety issues.

Kawahara’s testimony was submitted to the Chiba District Court as part of an ongoing compensation lawsuit against the government and TEPCO, which has been filed by affected evacuees.

TEPCO representatives, Kawahara said, “resisted for 40 minutes” during a meeting with NISA officials, and eventually dismissed the request for a simulation. He believed the company turned it down because “it would take substantial time and expense to carry out a simulation.”
 (RT)
 30/1/18