Panel doubts TEPCO claim tsunami caused nuke accident
December 06, 2011
By AKIRA SATO / Asahi Shimbun Weekly AERA

Not a few members of the government panel looking into the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant are skeptical about Tokyo Electric Power Co. pointing the finger of blame at an unprecedented tsunami.

"The claim that tsunami alone caused the accident is nothing but a hypothesis," said panel member Hitoshi Yoshioka, vice president at Kyushu University, who has written a book about the social history of nuclear energy.

"I feel a majority of panel members feel this way. It is close to a common understanding that it would not be good to trust as is TEPCO's analysis that tsunami was the cause of the accident."

The conclusion reached by the panel could have ground-shaking ramifications for other nuclear power plants in Japan....



This could have a profound effect on the ability of the country to resume use of their reactor fleet. They have 58 reactors and all but 8 are now idle (40) or closed permanently (10).

The latest shutdown is now progress and was caused by coolant leaking from a valve inside the containment vessel.
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/...