The man who predicted the biggest nuclear disaster since Chernobyl sees the danger for another Fukushima. One country in particular is at risk.
Tokyo – Toshio Kimura is the nuclear engineer who predicted Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, six years before it happened. Right there, in Japan, the expert fears further incidents of catastrophic proportions. “There is a very strong possibility that there is another nuclear disaster in Japan,” Kimura told The Daily Beast.
Especially the company that is responsible for the largest nuclear power plants in Japan cannot be trusted. The company he is referring to is his former employer, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO). TEPCO also operated the facility with Fukushima, which suffered a historic core meltdown in March 2011 after an offshore earthquake. The quake triggered a tsunami that flooded the TEPCO reactors, released deadly radiation and forced the evacuation of 160,000 people.
Nuclear disaster in Fukushima: Japan threatens another nuclear accident
Japan is located in the “Ring of Fire”, a region around much of the edge of the Pacific Ocean where volcanic eruptions and earthquakes are common. Building nuclear reactors in Japan is therefore a high-risk undertaking in and of itself. If nuclear power operators are then still unreliable and undermine safety standards, this increases the risk even further.
A year after Fukushima, an investigation by a Japanese parliamentary body came to the conclusion that the disaster “although triggered by these catastrophic events, was deeply man-made”. This was justified with “a large number of errors and willful negligence” in the Fukushima plant.
Japan: Nuclear Agency prohibits restarting Kashiwazaki plant
Last week, Japan’s Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NRA) banned TEPCO from restarting its Kashiwazaki facility, which was the world’s most powerful power plant with seven nuclear reactors. Like Fukushima, the facility is located on the coast. The agency found that the complex was riddled with major security flaws that could make it a target for terrorists.
According to “The Daily Beast”, the inspectors found 16 places where unauthorized entry into the facility was possible – and one attempt to cover up by TEPCO on top of that. The utility company would have reported some of its defective devices to the government, but the backup systems that were supposed to fix the problem would have lied.
Japan: TEPCO “in no way qualified to operate a nuclear power plant”
Says Ex-Employee Kimura, “This is just another example of this company covering up misdeeds like they [TEPCO] always do. One can only say that they are in no way qualified to operate a nuclear power plant. “
Back in 2005, after leaving the company and six years before the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Kimura wrote in an article that “if the power plant is hit by a tsunami, the pumps will use seawater as a coolant and the backup power will likely collapse. And as a result there will be a meltdown of the reactor core. “
Nuclear supervisor rages against TEPCO: “Are you kidding us?”
In his new book, How Nuclear Energy Will Destroy The Nation, Kimura points out that TEPCO’s persistent cover-ups have resulted in nuclear safety regulations that are fundamentally flawed. Japan’s nuclear authority now also agrees. The announcement last week serves as a de facto order to suspend operations.
At a press conference on the TEPCO power plant earlier this year, there was even an angry tirade from NRA chairman Toyoshi Fuketa. As he explained TEPCO’s failure to take effective alternative measures to deal with the security issues, Fuketa went into a fit of anger: “Was it dishonesty?” He asked. “Did you see the problem and did nothing? Is there a problem with their technological capabilities? Are they just kidding us? “
Even if the authorities have now stopped TEPCO’s immediate nuclear plans, experts fear that Japan’s nuclear threats are far from being remedied. “TEPCO has lied and falsified critical safety data for as long as it has operated nuclear power plants. A delay of a year or so is a pat on the hand for a company that has misled regulators and systematically neglected security, ”Jeff Kingston, professor at Temple University in Tokyo, told The Daily Beast “.
Remaining nuclear reactors in Japan are struggling with safety problems
There are still four nuclear reactors operating in Japan today – two in Fukui, one in Saga, and one in Kagoshima – and all four are struggling with safety issues.
The Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCO), for example, which operates two of the nuclear power plants, is at the center of a corruption scandal in Japan that involves massive bribes and kickbacks paid to and by a city official over three decades. At the end of last year, the Osaka District Court ruled that two reactors at the Fukui nuclear power plant were at risk from a major earthquake, even though they had received clearance from the NRA to restart them. Last year, KEPCO’s Takahama power plant was forced to suspend operations of two nuclear reactors after failing to build adequate counter-terrorism facilities.
The Genkai Power power plant in Saga, operated by the Kyūshū Electric Power Company, has also faced a number of issues, including steam leaks and malfunctioning cooling pumps, since it was reactivated in March 2018. Last month, however, according to The Daily Beast, a local district court dismissed a lawsuit by residents to stop production and ruled that the power plant was reasonably safe from volcanic and seismic activity under the new guidelines.
Nuclear power plants in Japan notorious for poor security
Japan’s aging nuclear power plants have long been notorious for poor security. In addition, before and after the Fukushima nuclear accident, organized crime groups often provided them with labor. Background checks are still not required. The situation is so dire that two former prime ministers from rival parties held a joint press conference in March this year calling for Japan to phase out nuclear power. Most Japanese citizens also seem to share this view, with 53 percent against restarting the country’s nuclear reactors.
In addition, dealing with nuclear power is no longer just a problem for Japan. Last week the government announced that Japan would dump radioactive waste that still spills from the 2011 nuclear accident into the ocean within two years. (Tobias Möllers)
