Attempts to offer reassurances over the leak of nuclear crisis engulfing Japan in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami have been undermined by years of cover-ups over safety in the country.
The ageing Fukushima Daiichi plant, which has been rocked by two explosions since Friday’s magnitude 8.9 earthquake, has repeatedly been at the centre of scandal over falsified safety data.
Five years ago, the operator of the plant, Tokyo Electric Power – known as Tepco – was ordered to carry out a trawl of its records after the company admitted temperatures readings for coolant materials had been falsified as long ago as 1985.
It meant that subsequent safety inspections at the plant were based on incorrect figures.
The admission came as the company was attempting to restore public confidence following an even bigger sandal four years earlier.
In September 2002 the company’s then President Nobuya Minami, his vice-president, chairman and a handful of senior officials resigned in disgrace after the Japanese government disclosed allegations that at least 29 cases of cracks and other damage to reactors had been covered up.
Read more here: Japan earthquake: past cover-ups undermine nuclear reassurances – Telegraph.
