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Panel says there was no cover-up at Fukushima nuclear plant

49 Comments
By MARI YAMAGUCHI

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49 Comments
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TEPCO panel says there was no cover up by TEPCO. Most comforting news in the morning!!! This gotta be a JOKE!!!!

10 ( +13 / -3 )

No cover-up by TEPCO? Great news!

Does this just means that the government did?

6 ( +9 / -3 )

Snort snort chuckle chuckle - and if you believe this "independent panel" there are some bridges I would like to talk to you about.

10 ( +11 / -1 )

No more Nukes

0 ( +6 / -6 )

TEPCO panel says there was no cover up by TEPCO. Most comforting news in the morning!!! This gotta be a JOKE!!

Exactly, Happy Hour : 6.00AM ~.... !!!

5 ( +7 / -2 )

"TEPCO commissioned a panel last month to look into the matter" - No. No bias at all here. Totally independent! Hahaha. This panel is utter garbage that only a complete moron would believe.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

Ha ha! And in other news, pigs have been seen flying.

This revelation should have waited a few weeks until April 1st.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Unless the word "independent" was meant to read as "orchestrated"...

6 ( +8 / -2 )

The TEPCO official who turned away the investigators must be prosecuted. This is criminal.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

The problem as always with these internal investigations done by independent groups hired by the same corporation being investigated is whether or not the government and more importantly the general public accept the findings or not. In this case the government is too closely in bed with TEPCO to be considered an independent judge so there has to be some other authority that needs to look into this matter.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Oh and personally speaking here....BULLSNIT!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Yesterday I saw a pig flying! Of course there was and is a cover up. Give it a few mins and the gov paid bloggers will be on to shout out more rhetoric and make the "truth" heard.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

I feel safe now that I have been told it was just ANOTHER mistake.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

No coverup? Then why was duly appointed investigative body obstructed in their service? This alone, is grounds for arresting any who were at the top of Tepco, at that time. As the dangerous conditions would've required prior notification of their pending arrival, no one within Tepco's top-level management can claim ignorance of these investigators or their intended purpose.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

its failure might have been caused by the magnitude-9.0 earthquake on March 11, 2011, and not by the subsequent tsunami, as has been widely thought.

But they're still talking about starting these dangerous NPPs up again ? In earthquake prone Japan ?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Responsibility is consistently avoided in all spheres of life first by denial and then by attributing the blame to some outsider or to one designated and widely recognised fall guy or some group in which no-one has to take the blame fully (this is the main reason for consensus and everyone appending their hanko) or by conjuring up some "misunderstanding". The patterns are so obvious that one would imagine any onlooker, including the media, would be just waiting for them.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Denial of cover-up.....regrettable.....misunderstanding......apologies..... The Four Horsemen of Japan's Apocalypse.

SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) for Japanese companies when they are caught out.

And no-one gets prosecuted, jailed, fired or fined.

The Japanese peoples' subservience to anyone in position of authority, whether a bureaucrat, politician, policeman, company manager, local government official, academic, even low-ranked journalists makes any form of change hard to come by. Sadly it would probably take a couple of Fukushima-style disasters to wake them up and change the system that they vote for and support every few years, and even then...

4 ( +4 / -0 )

A TEPCO commissioned panel says there is no coverup. I had a near-death experience reading this. This was not an independent panel. It was a panel commissioned to whitewash TEPCO. We have had more subtle coverups since the accident. This is was a act of pure desperation--a Hail Mary panel. No one but no one in his or her right mind will believe this.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

An 'independent' panel, eh? Hired by whom? And I want to get this straight -- TEPCO wilfully misinformed and blocked investigators from getting information, but it wasn't to hide the real information?

4 ( +6 / -2 )

An independent panel said Wednesday that the operator of Japan’s tsunami-crippled nuclear plant misinformed investigators and blocked an inspection of key equipment last year, but that it was not part of a cover-up.

Er... I thought a cover-up, was misinformation...

Yeah, right, it wasn't a cover-up. They just lied and wouldn't let anyone check anything.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

After the scandal caused an outcry from lawmakers and the public, TEPCO commissioned a panel last month to look into the matter. TEPCO, which had quickly ruled out quake damage to the plant’s key safety equipment, was accused of blocking the investigation to hide unfavorable evidence. On Wednesday, the panel said it attributed the problem to a TEPCO official’s misunderstanding of the situation at the No. 1 reactor, and said the company was not trying to hide the equipment from the inspectors. The panel also said top TEPCO officials were not involved.

So, a panel arranged by TEPCO says that TEPCO didn't do anything really wrong- one guy just thought he heard someone say something that they didn't; and that the top TEPCO officials certainly didn't do anything wrong, and the mass media isn't just laughing in their faces and calling them lying scumbags?

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Rule number one, never allow a businessman or a politician to investigate themselves, same goes for corporations and governments. Interesting that they consider lying and blocking investigation as not being a coverup. Leaves me to wonder what would they consider to be a cover up.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

Oh, I see! There was no cover up despite the facts that, for the first three weeks after the 'unfortunate incident' they were adamant there was no meltdown at all and it took 18 months for them to openly admit the meltdowns were caused by human error for which, nobody has been held accountable and never will be. I guess there is a difference between a cover up and suppressing information. I still have vivid memories of PM Kan screaming at TEPCO managers to give him some information. No cover up? Complete bull dust!!!

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Fiddlesticks and flapdoodle...... complete balderdash ! When will the populace realise that tie-wearing, empty suit automatons cannot be trusted !

1 ( +3 / -2 )

"comissioned by Tepco" "independant panel" independant my a`` you get paid by a company to give them a bad review!? these Tepco fools must think we are all morons to believe anything in this report is true!

6 ( +7 / -1 )

The Funny part is, if a real independent panel from another country said that there is a cover up, quick go in you can't understand Japanese Culture or you don't like Japan.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

An independent panel

Made up of who? Who picked these people? I smell a cover up just on that.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

eg....yes sir mr police man thats my car crashed into that pole, yes I was driving it at the time of the crash even though I dont know how to drive. but sir I certainly didnt do anything wrong!. sound familiar. LOL

0 ( +1 / -1 )

the operator of Japan’s tsunami-crippled nuclear plant misinformed investigators and blocked an inspection of key equipment last year

Has the meaning of cover-up been lost in translation? According to dictionary.com a cover-up is any action, stratagem, or other means of concealing or preventing investigation or exposure.

Sounds like a cover-up to me.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

'“If a quake really caused the (equipment’s) failure, it’s a problem that would affect Japan’s entire nuclear safety, including a resumption of reactors,” Tsujimoto said.'

This is really quite frightening because it suggests that the industry has still not factored in the POSSIBILITY that it may have been the earthquake, rather than the tsunami, that knocked out the Dai-ichi's backup systems. In other words, they're still purposely ignoring certain what-if scenarios, just as they did prior to the 2011 accident.

That being the case, another accident is only a matter of time.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

An independent panel said Wednesday that the operator of Japan’s tsunami-crippled nuclear plant misinformed investigators and blocked an inspection of key equipment last year, but that it was not part of a cover-up

No, it was just TEPCO being "transparent", as it has been since 3/11/11.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

“The company also should have made better preparations and explanations to accommodate the investigation team.”

Ya think?

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Cover up or not neuclear energy is dangerious if it gets out of control and a meltdown occurs who is TEPO going to blame then. If you look closely at the news foottage when the top blew off the reacter building there was a Neuclear type mushroom it canot be denied . So for the sake of the Japanese citizens they should not any longer use this form of power. The average Japanese Citisen is not expendable as they are the voters that puts politicions in power They are the tax payers who provide the government with funds to run the country Safely and efficently , so it should be put to the people what form of energy path Japan should follow. It is not a Prime Minister or any political decision .it is truly the peoples. not any government official . Their cannot be said any form of corruption exists,Let the people decide and if the wrong decision is made it becomes their problem and no one elses .

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Purposefully misinformed with intent and also denied access YET no cover up. Come again? This bunch of liars, proven a thousand times over as being such, are at it AGAIN! Does TEPCO and those in cohorts HAVE NO SHAME?

5 ( +6 / -1 )

@Yubaru

The problem as always with these internal investigations done by independent groups hired by the same corporation being investigated is whether or not the government and more importantly the general public accept the findings or not.

I'm not so sure that is what is actually the problem. The thing of it is that what the findings indicate usually doesn't affect people's opinions as much. Those who aren't too concerned with the topic moved on long ago, those who have a mild interest in it file it away somewhere in their mind, and those who adamantly hold a position on either side either accept it or reject based more on whether it agrees with their previous stance than any actual findings.

In this case the government is too closely in bed with TEPCO to be considered an independent judge so there has to be some other authority that needs to look into this matter.

Then the question needs to be: "Who would the anti-nuke/corp/whatever people trust, regardless of their findings?"

After all, anti-nuke people had no problem throwing WHO under the train when they didn't hear what they wanted (and it was doubly funny when articles started coming out with people simultaneously blaming WHO for exaggerating and for downplaying the effects in the article).

If you can't think of an independent body you would trust if they told you something you disbelieve, then perhaps you shouldn't be pretending you are making decisions based on rationality.

-6 ( +5 / -11 )

**Panel says there was no cover-up at Fukushima nuclear pla

nt**

Well, there's the set-up. I'm just waiting for the punchline, Jay Leno style!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Ewan:

When will the populace realise that tie-wearing, empty suit automatons cannot be trusted !

Never, of course. Here, appearance, even if evidently shallow and lying such, rules and I bet most Japanese trust a big fat corporate guy over a shabby journo any time.

It is such a shame that there are very few journos of interest in Japan and that journalists seem to contribute very little to uncovering lies here. Are they scared? Or just lazy? In any case, it would be nice to see some serious questions being asked for a change and some people not taking no for an answer.

Yeah, I know - utopia...

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Does not matter what the panel finds, the conspiracy theorists will cling to their diabolic conspiracy beliefs.

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

No cover up is true, there is nothing covering up the nuke plant, the radiation is still leaking into the sea and surrounding environment poisoning our people. Hence this can't be contained or covered up.... Abe, fix this mess and stop intemidating our neighbours to conseal your inability to protect us against our own nuclear disaster.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

WilliB: "Does not matter what the panel finds, the conspiracy theorists will cling to their diabolic conspiracy beliefs."

No kidding! Hounding the innocent companies like TEPCO for the truth! How dare they!!

2 ( +5 / -3 )

WilliB: Perhaps you should evaluate the authenticity, conflicts of interest, and lack of bias of the panel, before believing it?

0 ( +2 / -2 )

“We don’t have anything to hide,” Now this is a new one to go along with "I love you" and "The check's in the mail." If it's true, it means they've already destroyed the evidence.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

smithinjapanMar. 14, 2013 - 06:18PM JST

No kidding! Hounding the innocent companies like TEPCO for the truth! How dare they!

No need to hound anyone. There are proper, legal channels for doing just that. They could meet with the shareholders of the company to discuss releasing information. They could talk to their prefectural representative, and if the representative doesn't comply, they can just vote in a new person. They could fund academic research into it, or convince newspapers to investigate. All hounding does is split people into small but vocal groups, despite the fact that many would be glad to support moderate ones.

WilliBMar. 14, 2013 - 03:16PM JST

Does not matter what the panel finds, the conspiracy theorists will cling to their diabolic conspiracy beliefs.

Even I'm a bit skeptical for this result, that absolutely nothing turned up would be odd, considering there's so many inconsequential things like who's car they took batteries from and how many flashlights they had that were probably skewed one way or the other. Perhaps calling it a coverup would be a bit extreme, but perhaps saying "known irregularities in documentation were found, but no malicious fabrication was present" would have been a bit better.

-8 ( +1 / -9 )

The equipment — called an isolation condenser, which can function without electricity — is at the center of a major controversy,

False, the IC requires electrical power to operate the valves, and that power was lost as a result of the tsunami. While the IC is passive in that steam drives it, it only operates in an emergency, and was thus not armed when the tsunami struck. In fact, the reactors at fukushima cooled too quickly at first, causing engineers to turn off most cooling so that fuel damage could be avoided (according to some nuclear engineering academics). After that, they couldn't get the systems back up, some due to power failure and others due to flood damage. The main controversy surrounds whether or not they should have at least checked all systems and enabled them before the tsunami. The chance of terminal damage to IC unit is slim, the chance of that damage being related to the explosion a bit higher, and chance of flood related power failure much higher.

-7 ( +1 / -8 )

Will he B quiet? No. Still out there tuning in to The Truth. Really very sad. They have NOT told the truth from Day Zero. No conspiracy. FACT.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

and the good ol' boys dig deeper down rather than coming clean. What a joke.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Of course they would say there's no cover-up.

TEPCO & the gov. are one & the same now.

The TEPCO commissioned "third-party" panel interviewed 26 people, all of whom are TEPCO insiders.

This panel also did not conduct interviews with members of the now-disbanded Diet investigation commission.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

I realized that whenever I feel blue and need a laugh to make my day, and make me realize how good things are in life and just how bad they COULD be all I have to do is reread this quote from some unamed mouthpiece from TEPCO;

We don’t have anything to hide,” TEPCO said

0 ( +0 / -0 )

HA HA HA !!!! Tell it the Marines.... no cover up my foot... ;)

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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