Interim Fukushima report points to several human failures

A report by a government-appointed panel set up to investigate Japan's response to the disaster that resulted from the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant reveals a series of failures from inspectors' abandoning the plant as it succumbed to disaster to a delay in disclosing radiation leaks.

The 500-page report which was released yesterday details the failures that occurred, while mounting a response to the calamitous events at the Fukushima plant after the 11 March earthquake.

Three of the plant's six reactors overheated after the tsunami knocked off power supply systems to the reactors. This led to the melting down of fuel and caused, hydrogen explosions which blew the tops off reactor buildings, releasing radiation at levels not seen since Chernobyl in 1986.

The panel came down heavily on the use of the term ''soteigai,'' or ''unforeseen,'' that plant and government officials used to explain their inability to prevent the disaster. According to the panel's chairman Yotaro Hatamura, a professor emeritus in engineering at the University of Tokyo, the operation of a nuclear power plant inherently required officials to foresee the unforeseen.

He added there was a lot of talk of soteigai, but it only bred perceptions among the public that officials were shirking their responsibilities.

The report which will see the release of a final version by mid-2012, says the authorities had failed to properly estimate the risks tsunamis posed to the plant. The charges serve to reinforce the criticism of nuclear critics which have been acknowledged by the operator of the plant, Tokyo Electric Power.