A report made public Feb. 27 by a private-sector independent panel set up by the Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation reveals in detail how the government handled the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Citing factors that exacerbated the crisis, the report points a finger at the government's utter lack of preparedness for a severe nuclear accident, its haphazard handling of the catastrophe, and bureaucratic turf wars among government organizations that prevented timely and effective responses to the crisis.
The report confirms what the public soon noticed as it watched the government's response to the nuclear fiasco. As the report emphasizes, the government must quickly and drastically change its attitude and policies toward nuclear power plant safety and thoroughly prepare for the possibility of future disasters.