#Fukushima disaster could have been avoided, nuclear plant operator admits | Environment | guardian.co.uk
►http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/15/fukushima-disaster-avoided-nuclear-plant
The company at the centre of Japan’s worst nuclear crisis has acknowledged for the first time that it could have avoided the disaster that crippled the Fukushima Daiichi power plant last year.
In a reversal of its insistence that nothing could have protected the plant against the earthquake and tsunami that killed almost 20,000 people on 11 March, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) said it had known safety improvements were needed before the disaster, but had failed to implement them.
In a rare moment of introspection, an internal taskforce set up to reform the embattled utility said the firm feared that improvements in safety would highlight the risks to nuclear power plants and encourage the anti-nuclear lobby.
“There was a worry that if the company were to implement a severe-accident response plan, it would spur anxiety throughout the country and in the communities near where nuclear plants are sited, and lend momentum to the anti-nuclear movement,” the report said.
Nous y voilà, c’est la faute aux anti-nucléaire !