IAEA draft on Fukushima says tsunami risk underestimated: sources
Jun. 1, 2011
A group of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency acknowledged in a summary of a draft report on the Fukushima nuclear crisis that the risks of tsunami were underestimated and called for the independence of nuclear regulatory authorities to be ensured, sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
The summary is expected to be handed to the Japanese government on Wednesday by the IAEA group, which has been visiting Japan on a fact-finding mission into Japan's worst nuclear crisis, triggered by the massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
The draft says that the danger of tsunami was ''apparently underestimated'' and that nuclear designers and operators should appropriately evaluate the risks of all natural hazards and should ''periodically update these assessment methodologies'' in light of information and experience, according to the sources.
Touching on Japan's nuclear regulatory system, which is often criticized as the nuclear safety agency is under the wing of the industry ministry that promotes nuclear power, the experts stressed the importance of ''regulatory independence.''
To respond to severe accidents, emergency arrangements in the early phases are important, the experts said, while noting the need to look into the danger posed by hydrogen, which led to explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant's Nos. 1 and 3 reactors in the early days of the nuclear crisis.
But at the same time, they also positively evaluated Japan's response to the nuclear crisis as ''exemplary,'' citing how dedicated and determined workers have been under exceptional circumstances.
The experts also describe the evacuation of residents living near the stricken power plant as ''impressive and well organized,'' according the sources.
The IAEA team, led by Mike Weightman, the head of Britain's Nuclear Regulation Office, will present the mission's report at a ministerial meeting on nuclear safety to be hosted by the IAEA in Vienna from June 20 to 24.
Hit by the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and 14-meter-high tsunami, the six-reactor Fukushima Daiichi complex lost nearly all of its power sources, leading the cooling functions of many of the reactors and pools storing spent nuclear fuel to fail.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said in its road map unveiled in April that it plans to bring the troubled reactors to a stable condition called ''cold shutdown'' and mitigate the release of radioactive materials by around January at the latest.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on June 1, 2011)
The summary is expected to be handed to the Japanese government on Wednesday by the IAEA group, which has been visiting Japan on a fact-finding mission into Japan's worst nuclear crisis, triggered by the massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
The draft says that the danger of tsunami was ''apparently underestimated'' and that nuclear designers and operators should appropriately evaluate the risks of all natural hazards and should ''periodically update these assessment methodologies'' in light of information and experience, according to the sources.
Touching on Japan's nuclear regulatory system, which is often criticized as the nuclear safety agency is under the wing of the industry ministry that promotes nuclear power, the experts stressed the importance of ''regulatory independence.''
To respond to severe accidents, emergency arrangements in the early phases are important, the experts said, while noting the need to look into the danger posed by hydrogen, which led to explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant's Nos. 1 and 3 reactors in the early days of the nuclear crisis.
But at the same time, they also positively evaluated Japan's response to the nuclear crisis as ''exemplary,'' citing how dedicated and determined workers have been under exceptional circumstances.
The experts also describe the evacuation of residents living near the stricken power plant as ''impressive and well organized,'' according the sources.
The IAEA team, led by Mike Weightman, the head of Britain's Nuclear Regulation Office, will present the mission's report at a ministerial meeting on nuclear safety to be hosted by the IAEA in Vienna from June 20 to 24.
Hit by the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and 14-meter-high tsunami, the six-reactor Fukushima Daiichi complex lost nearly all of its power sources, leading the cooling functions of many of the reactors and pools storing spent nuclear fuel to fail.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said in its road map unveiled in April that it plans to bring the troubled reactors to a stable condition called ''cold shutdown'' and mitigate the release of radioactive materials by around January at the latest.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on June 1, 2011)
