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© (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013.Fukushima worker accidentally switches off cooling pumps; backup kicks in
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GW
WHAT FRIGGIN NEXT for petes sake!
gogogo
You would think out of all the buttons to press that would be the button you would never want to press and everyone would know not to press that button or at least have it labeled not to press!?
Idiots hire further idiots.
Disillusioned
It's under control! If you pay peanuts you get monkeys!
gaijinfo
And these are the same clowns that are going to painstakingly remove thousands of fuel rods, where one small mistake can lead to nuclear catastrophe?
Oh brother....
Kapuna
Even if the button was labeled "DANGER DO NOT PUSH" guess what? someone WILL push it. Just as a Wet Paint sign invites people to test to see if the paint is wet.
TheDevilsAssistant
No fear here...Abe said it's all under control! (Face palm)
Sensato
Right out of an episode of The Simpsons. "Doh!"
Get Real
You couldn't make this up
ohayo206
Baka
Skeeter27
I am starting to think that this company likes to be in a news!
smithinjapan
And the daily Fukushima lunacy is in. My guess is if backup had not kicked in, we wouldn't be getting an admittance for at least a year. Heaven forbid TEPCO hire some people with actual skills.... but then, they wouldn't be TEPCO, would they?
Lilic
Accidentally fire him!
globalwatcher
I am stunned. This is not allowed and can be avoided.
They need to follow every step of procedures in written manual or with someone else regardless how many times they have done that In the past. That's what airline pilots are doing when they are taking off and before landing. They verify every step with a co-pilot to make sure both of them are reading everything correctly. This is a fail safe technique #101.
Jimizo
His vision was probably impaired by a flying custard pie.
Alex Einz
how very expected... I really hope that US advisor they hired will be prudent enough to plan and supervise the removal procedures properly... I honestly think though they should go about the whole storage removal differently... how long would it take to build a complete supporting structure around it , as in permanent hill surrounding the storage with autonomic support systems and seal it off as a semi permanent site ...?
Dennis Bauer
It is good to know that this delicate situation is handled by well trained proffesionals (in a parallel Universe probably)
warispeace
After months of (criminal?) neglect by the company and the government, even the hopeless Abe has turned to the world with a plea for help on this water contamination problem. Of course this desperate appeal shows what a huge lie he told to the Olympic Committee and the world just a few weeks ago.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/japan-appeals-for-foreign-help-to-stop-leaks-at-crippled-nuclear-plant-8862659.html
In Japanese:
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20131006/k10015067481000.html
Thunderbird2
You know this is a complete farce. It's like they have a bunch of clowns working at Fukushima... or the cast of "Airplane".
The UN need to declare that the plant is a danger to the planet, take it off the government's hands and get properly trained people in there to get it sorted. TEPCO certainly aren't capable of handling it.
Nipporinoel
In response, tepco said it will set up a third-party panel shortly that consists of experts to monitor the situation and provide guidance.
What a pack of shiny excrement.
Laguna
I finally understand what's been bothering me about this whole thing: TEPCO and their response is just like that Stephen Stucker character, Johnny, in "Airplane." Watch this and tell me I'm wrong:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U7YU9rZS4w
Thunderbird2
That's what I was thinking when I made my reference to the cast of "Airplane"... you couldn't make this stuff up.
CrazyJoe
Hey TEPCO, when will you proceed from the status quo? I'm sick and tired of hearing the Fukushima plant is under control.
Nessie
That's Taro Simpson, sir. One of your drones from sector 7-G.
JeffLee
Look on the bright: shutting off the cooling system reduces the amount of radioactive water being produced.
Stewie
I'ts Ground Hog Day.
SumoBob
Two-and-a-half years too late!
Always pride (and "face" saving) before the fall. Sadly, the world is now forced to fall with Japan for its navel gazing and dithering.
wildwest
I'm glad we get the news good or bad, being in the dark before was worse. Knowing is better than not. At least by explaining and examining the issues in public some good may come of it.
therougou
The only thing I get out of this is uneasiness.
Alex Einz
wildwest... dont worry you are still very very much in the dark regarding the real issues at the plant
Jimizo
I hope TEPCO's end of year party is in a brewery.
NZ2011
Please someone get some suited worker footage, speed it up and add the benny hill music..
Jeremy Rigby
Usually off buttons are red which means stop and this should also mean don't push if you don't know what it is going to start or stop.
sf2k
@Laguna
Rapunzuel!
sushilover
WTF? Thought I'd been asleep for 6 months and woken up on April 1st.
FightingViking
@gokai_wo_maneku
Let's hope you're right !
ViennaSausage2
Welcome to Clowntown
ControlFreak
I seriously doubt this is a typical control panel, well mapped out and labeled. Its most likely a make-shift job and as such, mistakes like that are expected...thus the back-ups.
I am letting this one go. Still plenty of better reasons to condemn TEPCO concerning this whole debacle though. Plenty.
chucky3176
Japanese quality.
smithinjapan
Laguna: Thanks for the link. You guys are right, TEPCO is pretty much exactly like that character, although I think that's giving them too much credit.
Scnadal.Lova
one mistake after another. its a good thing that back up kicked in.
gavoz
Thats right,i nearly forgot. Everything you read in the media is accurate and entirely true Silly me
Laguna
Sorry, Thunderbird - I hadn't read your post and didn't mean to steal your, uh... Thunder. Let's hope Fukushima ends as sot-so-disasterously as Airplane. (By the way, that was a Boeing 707, one of my favorite planes.)
nandakandamanda
Without wishing to blame anyone, the whole dang plant, with its melted reactors and wobbly used fuel pools is just hanging together with string, tape and bandages.
"自転車操業"Jitensha Sogyo is the perfect Japanese term for how they are forced to run it day by day. I wonder if they say a collective prayer for another day 'safely' over?
wanderlust
The 'back-up kicked in', is one of the more remarkable aspects of this article, and ignored by most readers...it would seem to be the first time that a backup has worked as planned!
Abhorsenaube
That's crazy, I have to agree with Gogogo and others'. You'd think that would be the one button EVERYONE would know not to push. I do feel a little bad for the company though, they can't catch a break from the bad publicity.
Ricky Kaminski
Doh!
Star-viking
I'm sure we could all do better than this guy. Jury-rigged panels, wearing Tyvek Radiation Protection suits, working too much overtime for too little pay, getting dissed by all...
Shaun Johnson
By telling us this did they think we would feel better since the emergency systems started IMMEDIATELY(like they should do at any properly MAINTAINED nuclear facility)?? Instead it just continues to highlight TEPCOs incompetency further...
nandakandamanda
Let's see how this would sound if we changed the context.
Imagine the headlines if: " Worker accidentally shuts off hospital power supply, but luckily emergency generator kicks in."
Only it's much worse than a hospital, since the life of the whole ecosystem is at stake here.
Pukey2
Is there ONE button which switches EVERYTHING off?
Alex Einz
Pukey2 ... probably there are 2 of those buttons... backups you know.... :-)