Japanese utility, and the public, in dark about crippled nuclear plant
TOKYO, July 31 (Reuters) - Two and a half years after the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, the operator of Japan's wrecked Fukushima plant faces a daunting array of unknowns.
Why the plant intermittently emits steam; how groundwater seeps into its basement; whether fixes to the cooling system will hold; how nearby groundwater is contaminated by radioactive matter; how toxic water ends up in the sea and how to contain water that could overwhelm the facility's storage tanks.
What is clear, say critics, is that Tokyo Electric Power Co is keeping a nervous Japanese public in the dark about what it does know.
The inability of the utility, known as Tepco, to get to grips with the situation raises questions over whether it can successfully decommission the Fukushima Daiichi plant, say industry experts and analysts.
"They let people know about the good things and hide the bad things. This culture of cover up hasn't changed since the disaster," said Atsushi Kasai, a former researcher at the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/31/japan-fukushima-nuclear-idUSL4N0FZ31J20130731