Apr 20, 2013

More Tepco mismanagement

Leaky underground storage pools have forced Tepco to start transferring radioactive water to aboveground tanks at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant.

Feb 10, 2013

Nuclear power and press freedom

Japan's plunge in a global ranking of press freedom is attributed solely to poor access to information on the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster.

Jun 29, 2012

Tepco's self-justifying report

Tokyo Electric Power Co. on June 20 released its final report on the disaster at its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Tepco stated that the main cause of the accidents was the enormous scale of the tsunami that hit the plant, saying that ...

Jun 23, 2012

Nuclear power plant collusion

As the March 2011 reactor meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 power plant demonstrated, loss of power sources for an extended period of time at a nuclear power plant — known as a “station blackout” (SBO) — can lead to catastrophic ...

Jun 22, 2012

Reviving Fukushima's fisheries

A fishing cooperative in Fukushima Prefecture on June 14 carried out a fishing operation on a trial basis off the prefecture. The prefecture’s fishing industry has suffered greatly from the severe accident at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The ...

Jun 16, 2012

A champion of independent media

Cancer took the life of lawyer and journalist Mr. Kazuo Hizumi on June 12 at the age of 49. Although he died young, he has left behind a persuasive analysis of contemporary Japanese society from the viewpoint of protecting and promoting freedom of expression ...

May 25, 2012

Wearing two hats will damage NHK

Tokyo Electric Power Co. has picked Mr. Fumio Sudo, the top official at Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK), as one of its six outside directors. The chairman of NHK’s board of governors said he has no intention of leaving his NHK post. If he serves ...

May 18, 2012

Bracing up for power savings

The government has announced a power-saving plan for the coming summer. But the announcement came too late. As all of Japan’s nuclear power plants are offline, the government has been obsessed with the idea of restarting the Nos. 3 and 4 reactors at Kansai ...

May 10, 2012

Restructuring of Tepco

Trade and industry minister Yukio Edano Wednesday approved a 10-year comprehensive business plan which Tokyo Electric Power Co. and the government-backed Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund on April 27 submitted to the government for restructuring the power company in the wake of the nuclear ...