The government-tasked commission tackles regulators and officials, buts it also makes some unusual assumptions about the March 2011 disaster.
The Japanese government’s Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission concluded, in a 641-page report released Thursday, that the March 11, 2011 nuclear incident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant was a “profoundly man-made disaster.” The “enormous amount of radioactive material” that was emitted into the environment, the study found, was the result of human negligence, rather than a natural disaster or — in the parlance of theologians and insurance adjustors — an act of god. The Commission held 900 hours of hearings and interviewed 1,167 people, finding that the nuclear meltdown was avoidable. The Commission’s conclusions leave the jarring implication that regulators believe there is a category of nuclear disaster that might be unavoidable. Americans might be especially concerned, because the chairman of our own Nuclear Regulatory Commission suggested Friday that Fukushima did not violate any American safety standards.
Continue reading at Official Fukushima Report Blames Japanese Culture, Not Nuclear Power
