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© KYODOHigh court denies gov't responsibility for Fukushima nuclear crisis
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aomorisamurai
The Japanese government may not have started the fire, but they certainly fanned the flames. They got up on the stage and told the world with a straight face that everything was fine and that they had it under control and no foreign assistance was needed.
Only when it got really bad did they admit that it was nowhere near being under control and that they, indeed, needed assistance.
Monty
no foreign assistance was needed.
Yes that was the biggest problem.
Many countries offered help, but Japan refused it.
They accepted it when it was already to late.
If they accepted help earlier, the Fukushima disaster would probably not happened.
Garthgoyle
And then years later history repeats it(them)selves.
Garthgoyle
I wanted to say "ten" years later history repeats.
Do the hustle
It was the local government’s responsibility to ensure all the upgrades and safety measures were in place. Therefore, it is they who are ultimately responsible. “The untouchables!”
Alfie Noakes
Jolly old Japan, where the government is responsible for nothing.
Never forget their lackeys in the media who spent years persuading the Japanese people that nuclear power was safe. It has to be one of the greatest propaganda programs in history, brainwashing the only country in the world to have suffered a nuclear attack into believing that nuclear power stations were safe. And safe because they were run by the LDP.
Monty
@zichi
No foreign country could have done anything about the bad plant design and even the lack of training of the plant workers.
That is correct, but they could probably help to avoid the core melting.
dan
The government worms it way out of yet more responsibility...Sigh..
kohakuebisu
The coast was known to be tsunami-prone but the plant was built right next to it to save money. It could have been built 100m inland on higher ground with seawater pumped to it for cooling. Likewise, the backup generators could have been placed on the surface, not underground, given the tsunami risk. These are poor design choices driven by the super high cost of building a nuclear power plant. The average cost overrun of an NPP is around 200%, Olympics and Scottish Parliament territory, which only encourages corners to be cut. Cost cutting was a huge factor at Chernobyl too.
Ultimately, the government must have set the budget and signed off on the design, so there must be culpability there.
JeffLee
Like many other things, the provision of nuclear power was outsourced to a private, profit-making corporation, which was entrusted with maintaining proper safety levels.
Ultimately, it is the operator that is responsible, and if it fails to manage its risk adequately, then it should be the one to take the fall.
Peter Neil
The backup generators should have been placed on the higher ground behind the plant. The tsunami did not reach that level.
A large quake and tsunami devastated the same area in the late 1800's. It was not a "once in a thousand year" event as some people say. That entire coast line looks like it does from repeated quakes and tsunamis.
Fukushima stands as an embarrassing reminder that failure to anticipate and complacency is costly.
The same will be true when another massive quake hits Tokyo, as it will. The Kamakura quake and tsunami is estimated to have been 8.6.
moonbloom
Never forget their lackeys in the media who spent years persuading the Japanese people that nuclear power was safe. It has to be one of the greatest propaganda programs in history, brainwashing the only country in the world to have suffered a nuclear attack into believing that nuclear power stations were safe. And safe because they were run by the LDP.
Yes, and never forget that GE and Westinghouse were just as involved in order to profit from selling the equipment to Japan...Walt Disney was also part of the effort as he created the animation film, "Our Friend The Atom" which was broadcast on Nippon Television, a network set up by Shoriki Matsutaro...Shoriki was released from Sugamo prison by the CIA on the agreement that he collaborate with the CIA-
[ In January 1956, Shōriki became chairman of the newly created Japanese Atomic Energy Commission, and in May of that year was appointed head of the brand-new Science and Technology Agency, both under the cabinet of Ichirō Hatoyama with strong support behind the scenes from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.[2]
In 2006, Tetsuo Arima, a professor specialising in media studies at Waseda University in Tokyo, published an article that proved Shōriki acted as an agent under the codenames of "podam" and "pojackpot-1" for the CIA to establish a pro-US nationwide commercial television network (NTV) and to introduce nuclear power plants using U.S. technologies across Japan. Arima's accusations were based on the findings of de-classified documents stored in the NARA in Washington, DC.[3]
Shōriki is thus also now known as "the father of nuclear power."[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsutar%C5%8D_Sh%C5%8Driki
Mickelicious
Masterful sleight of hand in protecting your buddies in the system, Judge Adachi.
TEPCO had been warned repeatedly by a concern engineer pointing to the historical tsunami evidence, and the backup generator could have been relocated further uphill at little cost. If you didn't know this, you don't deserve to be where you are.
Fob the plaintiffs off with an insulting ¥1.2m each, why don't you?
Runtu DaHilz
@Zichi
This is true. The reactors are GE. General Electric is in the weapons manufacturing industry. Remember when all that bomb making material was CAREFULLY taken out of the wrecked reactors and shipped off to Europe? Japan is helping the US and NATO manufacture nuclear bombs. Doesn't Japan have nearly as many reactors as prefectures? Ask yourself why.
Runtu DaHilz
Oh, Japan had MORE reactors than prefectures:
On March 11, 2011, there were 54 nuclear reactors in operation in Japan supplying approximately 30% of the country’s electric power. However, the Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent devastating tsunami that brought disaster to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station radically changed Japan’s energy configuration.
https://www.nippon.com/en/features/h00238/japan%E2%80%99s-nuclear-power-plants.html
Aly Rustom
High court denies gov't responsibility for Fukushima nuclear crisis
surprise surprise
HBJ
Not a surprise at all.
Government mismanagement, underfunding, and under regulating the industry as well as TEPCO absolutely bares some responsibility for what happened.
I hope all those personally affected by this disaster remember this decision and it brings about some kind of political awakening.
Yeah, right.
Speed
According to this ruling, this is a government, how should we say...., um, that doesn't really govern so it's not liable.
JJ Jetplane
The Government is just as much to blame. They were inadequate in their inspections and didn't properly enforce their own listed safety standards. Why is it the Government never seems to accept responsibility or their part in problems?
Thomas Tank
I just woke up so forgive me if I'm a bit confused but...
If we remove the negatives in that comment, we get this:
So how does this equate to the court denying government responsibility? Is this a translation error? Somebody wake me up.
Goodlucktoyou
Interesting.
after the disaster which was documented and warned about, the govt split TEPCO into two parts.
One private, responsible for power supply and thanks to electricity charge increases, started to make 200-400% profit for shareholders. .
The other, using large amounts of taxpayers money is responsible for cleaning up the Fukushima Dainichi disaster, predicted to take up to 80 years to contain + safe storage of nuclear waste around 1000 years.
love my solar panels.
Ascissor
One of the greatest ironies of Japan's political history is that decades of LDP rule set the scene for the disaster, but the disaster itself occurred during the brief interval when they were in opposition.
Sceptical
Read much of the arguments and it's very confusing. I may not even believe what I had read in the newspapers at the time, much so with the recent ruling.
But in the interest of those who wants to have a clear picture of what has happened, I may suggest watching the movie "Fukushima 50", a non fiction movie of what actually inspired before and during the accident. You can watch it on BS channel 193 WOWOW at 1/30 8pm.
Chabbawanga
TEPCO, NISA, JGOV - A sushi-go-round of useless self-serving bureaucrats. Send the whole lot to jail.
Peter Neil
The majority were slightly above sea level. This was the number one cause of the ongoing disaster.
Mojo Dojo
No doubt a massive failure by TEPCO and the government regulators. But it must be put in perspective - a decade later, and STILL not ONE person has died from the radiation release. And the science shows that no one will. This hysterical, unscientific, emotional fear of nuclear power means that Japan will continue to pump billions of tons of CO2 and other pollutants into the air from burning coal, oil and natural gas. Meanwhile, everyone believes the Big Green Lie that enough windmills and solar panels can run a major economy -- this is a lie.
Nuclear is by far the safest source of power generation in the world (in terms of deaths per megawatt), and it is foolish to abandon it out of fear and misinformation. TEPCO and the government are equally responsible for not taking the simple step of protecting the backup power generators. But if Japan never restarts its nuclear program because of this, the greenhouse gas situation around the world will only become worse, and Japan will become increasingly impoverished paying for these energy imports.