In the future, what should the government do about Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO)? How do you think that company should be run?

what part of incompetence,would the ceo and his board of directors not understand. i would guess they have passports. seize there passports, put them in jail.take them to court. the cover up/lies/butt covering are still on going. terrible terrible

Farmers in the vicinity whose businesses have been ruined should be given a hefty compensation. Also, free energy is around. Maybe it is time to start using it?

The two whistleblowers who exposed the falsification of data, short cuts in manufacturing, and ignoring of safety warnings should be re-hired as consultants. All high level management, executives, Japanese government officials of the time, academics and regulatory staff who were involved in these dealings should be retired, their names are known. Independent oversight should be established, and not just the usual old amakudari academics or retired regulatory staff, but current experts from manufacturing, power and nuclear fields. The cost-cutting CEO should be given the job of supervising the clean-up crews on site, not 'encouraging the troops at head office' like his flunky PR staff explained. TEPCO itself will need major re-organisation, with the focus on safety, not cost. That's for starters!

Cactus Jack, yes we probably will. It will be part of our electricity bill and taxes.

I have been told TEPCO is talking about raising prices. Will TEPCO workers receive bonuses this year? I have no argument with those entering the nuclear plant now receiving bonuses, but management ...

Take over TEPCO ya say? As of March 2010,TEPCO had interest bearing debt of US$81 billion. You gonna pay for that?

TEPCO (the complete company) should be forfeited to the people of Japan as compensation. Plus their CEO, Chairman and their executives should all be ordered to the plant to work on the cleanup and restoration until the day they die.

GW has ir right except I would add that the japanese public has colluded with powers that be...... shoganai is the biggest avoidance of responsibilty possible

The J govt should throw Tepco into the reactor just before they bury the whole thing in concrete.

Regardless of the natural source of this disaster, the Tepco is responsible to some extent for the inefficient safety measures in the Fukushima plant and the way it handled the emergency situation. I think the first priority of the Japanese government is to force all nuclear factories in Japan to improve their safety measures in order to stand against an earthquake of 8 magnitude (or more if it is possible), as well as a tsunami of 10 plus meters. As for the Tepco, i think its CEO and board of directors would have to resign. I don't think that becoming a government-owned corporation is appropriate though.

NHK Poll says that 52% of people surveyed living near a nuclear reactor said they were for nuclear energy... I don't think we're going to find much of an anti-nuke movement... though this could lead to a moderate change of tide... TEPCO's bumbling response to disaster has lead to some anger... but Japanese people are quick to apologize and except responsibility... Will it be any different this time. My worry: What happens when the tokai earthquake comes... Is Hamaoka ready for it?

Electrocute them with their own power and charge them the bill! Openness is an essential element of democracy, how else are people to decide who their leaders should be? Safety is paramount not profit when it comes to nuclear power, totally disregarded for years by incompetent management and government alike!

The problems of corruption between industy & govt here go way way beyond the nuclear power industry, we are being destroyed by these incestious realtionships.

The only hope for Japan I am afraid is for whole lot of companies to be shut down, many higher ups in business & Govt jailed.

In short like I have been saying for years here if Japan doesnt re-invent itself on a massive scale its dead! It wud be nice if from this disaster soem real change came about but honestly I think it was too far from Tokyo to do this.

I am not too hopeful of the future here

Could've, should've, would've - it's just impossible to anticipate an unprecedented disaster. If one looks at the sitution, the area was hit w/ TWO Unprecedented Disasters - a 9.0Mag earthquake and a 14-23 meter Tsunami. I believe TEPCO was prepared for a 8.0 Mag earthquake w/ a lower Tsunami. If not for the Tsunami, the problems and deaths would have been much, much lower. A 9.0 Mag earthquake, if located correctly, would probably crack the containment wall in any country, more so than TEPCO reactors. It is these kinds of disasters that have lead to better safeguards in the past, and this disaster will be studied by nuclear reactor experts for years in the future. Trial and error is the history of technology.

The reactors pumped in with sea water will be decommissioned since there is no way TEPCO is going to salvage it. The entire plant was up for decommission by the end of this year or the next due to age. I do not think they will encase it in concrete, not yet anyways since there is still too much heat and to be honest I disagree since if they did there is no way to monitor for leakage. As for plutonium, I haven't heard any one who are monitoring the situation have mentioned that it did so I suggest not speculating meaningless worst case scenarios.

The present management seems to be incompetent as well as corrupt. The plant should be closed, buried under tons of concrete forever. The executives should be put in jail for stonewalling about the dangers. I believe they have known all along that reactor 3 was leaking plutonium, the deadliest substance on earth. The full extent of damage this substance is causing won't be known for generations.

I can see why the government wants the people to 'stay calm' - they want people to keep working away, paying taxes, as if nothing was wrong. But something is very wrong, and if I were a resident, I would be planning to relocate at the earliest opportunity.

Foreign intervention is the last thing it needs. Why bring in more bureaucracy when there is enough of it already. Do spring cleaning throwing out all Amakudaris and create a internal policy stating it will take no more amakudaris since they are worthless, not taking any responsibilities to any of the problems and create a oversite committee hiring people outside TEPCO personnel and have them oversee transparency and safety regulations if IAEA wants to have a voice let one of them have a seat in the committee not in TEPCO itself.

I think the IAEA have to step up their game too. They should have known about problems with these plants too. Also, a couple of IAEA specialists came out here to measure radiation last week and then pissed off again 2 days later. Doesn't look like they want to involve themselves much.

It should encourage reduced usage of power considerably in Japan. What we've seen through the Tokyo rolling blackouts is that we use WAY TOO MANY LIGHTS. We could do with using less energy, period.

Yeah I second that, even though green energy doesn't have a chance of supplying anyting but a fraction of the power Japan needs I love green energy.

Close Fukushima plants, switch to solar and hydroelectric power and let only the Prefectures run it!

I think Mickey Mouse should be hired to run it, if the mouse can handle an international theme park he should be able to handle a nuclear power plant.

The president and the entire board will have to go. I'd like to see a foreign CEO and some foreign nuclear physicists join the company, too, but that's unlikely. Greater transparency is needed and my guess is that whoever takes over is going to find a nest of defective parts in many reactors, unreported malfunctions and so on.

If the government were competent, I would say nationalize the power companies.

I don't see anything changing. The government will pour trillions of yen into the company to keep it afloat and TEPCO will be so indebted you'll hear nothing but the best news and the slightest negative thing will be swept under the reactor! Business as usual!