Transcripts of phone conversations immediately after the March disasters, released Tuesday by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, reveal the early sense of urgency and confusion about the crisis unfolding at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
The transcripts include lengthy discussions justifying NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko's controversial decision to urge Americans living within a 50-mile (80 km) radius of the stricken nuclear plant to evacuate. They show the decision was based in part on an assessment — now thought to be erroneous — that the reactor 4 spent-fuel pool at the No. 1 plant had been drained of liquids and its walls had "crumbled," in the words of one official, releasing radioactive elements into the environment.
The conversations in the transcripts start on the morning of March 11 and run through March 20. They are redacted in many places, including a 16½-page section from dialogues held March 12. The transcripts were released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request and are available on the agency's website.