Nuclear meltdown kept secret

Energy Matters0

How many other countries or govt’s would keep stumm on this.

Nuclear meltdown danger kept secret

March 11, 2012

A man looks for his photographs at a collection centre for items which were found in the rubble of an area devastated by the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Sendai, Miyagi prefecture March 9, 2012, ahead of the one-year anniversary of last March 11 earthquake and tsunami. More than 250,000 photographs and personal belongings are displayed at the centre for owners to recover.

A year later … looking for personal photographs at a tsunami collection centre for effects in Sendai. Photo: Reuters

TOKYO: Just four hours after a tsunami swept into the Fukushima nuclear power plant on March 11 last year, Japan’s leaders knew the damage was so severe the reactors could melt down, but they kept it secret for months.

The revelations were in documents released late last week. The minutes of the government’s crisis management meetings from the day the earthquake and tsunami struck until late December had to be reconstructed retroactively.

They show confusion, delayed responses and miscommunication among government and plant officials as some ministers expressed the sense nobody was in charge while conditions quickly worsened.

Star fish are being dried for plant food on the ground in Tashirojima island, off Ishinomaki city, Miyagi Prefecture.Click for more photos

Japan – one year on

Star fish are being dried for plant food on the ground in Tashirojima island, off Ishinomaki city, Miyagi Prefecture. Photo: AP/Itsuo Inouye

  • Star fish are being dried for plant food on the ground in Tashirojima island, off Ishinomaki city, Miyagi Prefecture.
  • An empty street is seen in the highly radiated town of Iitate, in the village of IItate, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. Radiation is still being emitted from the now defunct nuclear Dai-ichi plant and more than 20,000 people are registered on waiting lists to get their radiation levels measured.
  • A policeman stands guard at one of the entrances to the 20km evacuation zone surrounding the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. Radiation is still being emitted from the shutdown plant.
  • The Takahama Nuclear Power Station is seen in a roadside mirror which runs by Kansai Electric Power Co, on March 9, 2012 in Takahama, Japan. Only two of Japanese's 54 nuclear reactors are online nearly 12 months after last year's March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
  • Tamiko Abe, 71, whose home was destroyed in last year's tsunami cooks a seaweed dish in a temporary housing unit.
  • Reina Endo, 7, and her brother Shun Endo, 10, from Minamisoma, are prepared to be screened for radiation during a whole body radiation check at the Minamisoma City General Hospital, just outside the 20km evacuation zone surrounding the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, on March 09, 2012.
  • A man looks for his photographs at a collection centre for items which were found in the rubble of an area devastated by the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Sendai, Miyagi prefecture on march 9, 2012.
  • A worker offers prayer during a ceremony to commemorate their colleagues who were killed by a tsunami at the the Nippon Paper Industries Co.  Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.
  • Tsunami victim Shigemi Yoshida, 58, holds a photograph of himself and his wife at their wedding party, which was found in the rubble of an earthquake devastated area.
  • Police officers walk past a pine tree which survived the  earthquake and tsunami, during an operation searching for bodies,  in Rikuzentakata, northeastern Japan, one year after the disaster.
  • Cars damaged by the tsunami, on March 11, 2011, are stacked on the ground in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.
  • Schoolchildren wear padded hoods to protect them from falling debris during a disaster drill named
  • Schoolchildren take shelter underneath their desks during a disaster drill named
  • A Volunteer group from Tokyo works to clear buried drainage pipes in Rikuzentakata, Japan. Volunteer groups have come from all across Japan to help in the massive recovery effort.
  • Rie Komatsu lays flowers at the site of a convenience store where two of her friends were killed by last years' tsunami in Rikuzentakata, Japan.
  • Bulldozers work to sort and clear massive piles of scrap metal and debris in Rikuzentakata, Japan.
  • A replica of the Statue of Liberty that was damaged by the March 11 tsunami stands in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture.

The minutes quoted an official as saying the reactors’ cooling functions were being kept running by batteries that would last eight hours. ”If temperatures in the reactor cores keep rising … there is a possibility of meltdown,” the official said during a meeting hours after the tsunami.

The revelation comes as people continue to look for cherished possessions in centres set up by recovery authorities.

Associated Press

 

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/nuclear-meltdown-danger-kept-secret-20120310-1ur0y.html#ixzz1okmXhShN

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