Japan Press Weekly

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2011 April 20 - 26 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

Power industry formulated tsunami guidelines for N-plants

Twelve out of the 41 members of a workgroup assessing the height of tsunami for nuclear power plants are nuclear power plant employees. The tsunami guidelines for nuclear power plants have been drawn up to suit the nuclear power industry.

TEPCO President Shimizu Masataka has repeatedly explained that the company has always operated in accordance with “established standards” regarding a massive tsunami.

What he refers to as “established standards” are the tsunami guidelines formulated in 2002 by the tsunami evaluation subcommittee established under the Japan Society of Civil Engineers’ nuclear civil engineering committee.

The subcommittee consists of 41 members. Of them, 12 are from electric power companies, including three TEPCO employees and four employees of a TEPCO subsidiary.

The revelation is now casting doubt on whether the guidelines were actually made by a third party without any conflict of interest.

Asked if TEPCO is willing to remove its employees from the subcommittee, the TEPCO president said, “I must refrain from commenting on that (press conf. April 13).”