TEPCO admits delay in declaring 'meltdown' was cover-up

[yuiyoshida]

TOKYO —

The utility that ran the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant acknowledged Tuesday its delayed disclosure of the meltdowns at three reactors was tantamount to a cover-up and apologized for it.

Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) President Naomi Hirose’s apology followed the revelation last week that an investigation had found Hirose’s predecessor instructed officials during the 2011 disaster to avoid using the word “meltdown.”

“I would say it was a cover-up,” Hirose told a news conference. “It’s extremely regrettable.”

TEPCO instead described the reactors’ condition as less serious “core damage” for two months after the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, wrecked the plant, even though utility officials knew and computer simulations suggested meltdowns had occurred.

An investigative report released last Thursday by three company-appointed lawyers said TEPCO’s then-President Masataka Shimizu instructed officials not to use the specific description under alleged pressure from the Prime Minister’s Office, though the investigators found no proof of such pressure.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/tepco-admits-delay-in-declaring-meltdown-was-cover-up

[leveymg]

1. And, I remember the nuclear industry shills claiming that meltdown and release was impossible

and, all the while, the major media was pretty much parroting the TEPCO and nuclear industry press releases. Still do.

[Octafish]

5. It's like Winchester Repeating Arms for the Modern Age.

That nuclear business means real money.

[FLPanhandle]

2. Amazing admission from a company president

The government had to have known. Why didn't the Japanese government say so?

[Octafish]

3. Better late than never, apart from the plutonium and the rest which is best never.

The shills should be ashamed, but they are sociopaths and incapable of remorse.

Fukushima meltdown apology: "It was a cover-up"

TOKYO -- The utility that ran the Fukushima nuclear plant acknowledged Tuesday its delayed disclosure of the meltdowns at three reactorswas tantamount to a cover-up and apologized for it.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. President Naomi Hirose's apology followed the revelation last week that an investigation had found Hirose's predecessor instructed officials during the 2011 disaster to avoid using the word "meltdown."

"I would say it was a cover-up," Hirose told a news conference. "It's extremely regrettable."

TEPCO instead described the reactors' condition as less serious "core damage" for two months after the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, wrecked the plant, even though utility officials knew and computer simulations suggested meltdowns had occurred.

CONTINUED...

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fukushima-tepco-power-japan-nuclear-meltdown-apologizes-cover-up/

And the plutonium?

[Octafish]

4. From DU, 17 days after the disaster...

TEPCO: Plutonium is not dangerous. Where's the Boss?