The Fukushima nuclear power plant's inability to withstand a tsunam

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The shock of the great earthquake spread, the devastation of the massive tsunami occurred, and the hellish nuclear accident began.

The government, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, and Tokyo Electric Power Company, which is directly responsible for the nuclear accident, explain that the amount of radiation is so small that it does not immediately threaten life. However, continued exposure to the spreading radioactive material can be harmful even in small amounts, depending on the radiation dose, distance from the source, and duration of exposure.

In addition, there is widespread talk that the accident was caused by an "unforeseen" tsunami due to the earthquake, but this is also not true. On February 28, just before the disaster, TEPCO admitted that it had failed to inspect a total of 429 pieces of equipment at the 17 reactors at the three nuclear power plants in Niigata and Fukushima. Far from being unexpected, this was a negligence on an astonishing scale.

The problem goes even deeper. In fact, five years ago, on March 1, 2006, a remove background image subcommittee of the House of Representatives Budget Committee raised concerns about a similar accident, and a "promise" was made to take measures to avert the crisis.

The questioner was Yoshii Hidekatsu, a member of the House of Representatives from the Japanese Communist Party, and the respondent was Nikai Toshihiro, then Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, and Hirose Kenkichi, then Director-General of the National Security Agency, who was also a government witness. The following is an excerpt from the minutes of the meeting (titles omitted).

Yoshii: "The loss of cooling systems due to tsunamis is an issue," "A large earthquake would destroy the backup power grid," and "How many demonstration tests have been carried out on aging equipment?"

Hirose : "No demonstration tests have been conducted."

Yoshii : "At the six reactors of TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi, if the water level drops to a depth of four meters below the reference water level, isn't it possible that cooling water will not be able to be drawn from them?" "... What will be done about that?"

Nikai: "I would like to promise you here that the entire Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will tackle this issue seriously from now on."

If they understand the necessity and fail to act, that would be administrative inaction, and considering the scale of the damage, they bear great responsibility. This makes it difficult to believe the explanations and announcements that are being reported every minute. Everyone is frustrated that "basic accident data is not being disclosed, and we cannot grasp the situation" (Councillor Yoshii). Unit 3 in particular is a plutonium-thermal type that uses a mixture of highly toxic plutonium and uranium fuel, unlike