Press Release: Chuetsu-Oki Earthquake – Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power PlantNGO’s demand IAEA stop misleading international community and TEPCO improve transparency

ByRick E

[PDF: 584KB]

Media Release
7 September 2007

Chuetsu-Oki Earthquake – Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant
NGO’s demand the IAEA stop misleading the international community and TEPCO improve transparency

NGOs today demanded that there be greater international accountability from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and that Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) improve its transparency surrounding the impact of the Chuetsu-Oki Earthquake on the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant.

In a letter to the IAEA and TEPCO, Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center, Green Action, and Greenpeace Japan criticized the IAEA Expert Mission to the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant for making misleading statements about the impact of the earthquake on the plant1. They also criticized Philippe Jamet, head of the Expert Mission, for saying it would take “months or a year” to put the plant back into operation, even though a careful reading of the Expert Mission’s 17 August 2007 report shows that there are strong grounds for believing that the plant can never be operated again.

The groups strongly supported the Expert Mission’s goal of sharing the findings and lessons learned with the international nuclear community. However, they pointed out that there is a major barrier to the achievement of this goal. That is that Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) does not publish most of its reports in English.

The Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center (CNIC) contacted TEPCO to ask if it intended to translate a technical report published on its Japanese web site on 10 August. TEPCO replied it did not. CNIC then took the initiative of translating charts on neutron flux and reactor pressure and publishing them on the following page
http://cnic.jp/english/topics/safety/earthquake/kktechreport10aug07.html

The TEPCO report contains key information that will be useful to anyone with a technical interest in the impact of the Chuetsu-Oki earthquake.

The groups wrote to TEPCO calling on it to publish on its web site full translations of the technical reports relating to the Chuetsu-Oki Earthquake which have been published by TEPCO in Japanese. If TEPCO can provide such information in English to the IAEA, there is no reason why it cannot provide it to a wider audience. Only when sufficient basic data is available in English will the international community be able to independently analyze the findings and the lessons learned.

Contacts

Philip WHITE, International Liaison Officer, Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center (Tokyo, Japan)
Phone: 81-3-3357-3800
Email: cnic@nifty.com

Aileen Mioko SMITH, Director, Green Action (Kyoto, Japan)
Phone: 075-701-7223 / 090-3620-9251
Email: amsmith@gol.com

Jun HOSHIKAWA, Executive Director, Greenpeace Japan (Tokyo, Japan)
Phone: 81-3-5338-9800
Email: jun.hoshikawa@jp.greenpeace.org

1. Letters to IAEA and TEPCO dated 7 September, 2007 available on the following web pages:
http://cnic.jp/english/topics/safety/earthquake/kkiaea7sep07.html
http://cnic.jp/english/topics/safety/earthquake/kktepco7sep07.html

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