Japan utility: Delay in declaring 'meltdown' was cover-up

[DemMomma4Sanders]

Source: Tucson News

"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.

The report said TEPCO officials, who had suggested possible meltdowns, stopped using the description after March 14, 2011, when Shimizu's instruction was delivered to vice president at the time, Sakae Muto in a memo at a televised news conference. Shimizu had a company official show Muto his memo and tell him the Prime Minister's Office has banned the specific words.

Government officials also softened their language on the reactor conditions around the same time, the report said.

Read more: http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/32268265/japan-utility-delay-in-declaring-meltdown-was-cover-up

[sofa king]

1. No kidding?

Just like a thousand impassioned DUers warned us in the aftermath.

Pat yourselves on the back and keep going, you wonderful people of conscience! Victory is in sight.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Arnie Gunderson kept telling us of dangers and events that Tepco denied for YEARS.

Arnie said 3 of the cores would melt down after the explosions.
Tepco / Japan kept denying the explosions were serious and no reactors were exposed.

Tepco also hired men to clean up the area and the reactors without proper gear, and did not explain how dangerous it was.

Every time Tepco made a delayed admission, it was always described as .."regrettable".

In a just world, those lying thieves would be given brooms and driven to the reactors to clean them up.
At gunpoint.

Ok..long range gun point, but still.............

[shadowmayor]

2. Derp

On paper, these things might look like a good idea? Put people in charge of them, especially when making money is involved and there you have it. Telling lies to the public is more important than losing money or face. Public safety and the right to know are always relegated to a secondary priority. Management will always come down on the side of the powers that be - and the people are given the shaft.

[Faux pas]

3. Why am I

NOT surprised? I imagine it's drilling itself right through to the center of the earth.