Japan, TEPCO ignored atomic accident risks due to 'myth of nuclear safety': Report

Tokyo, July 23 (ANI): A report into the Fukushima nuclear disaster has found that Japanese officials ignored the risks of an atomic accident because they believed in the 'myth of nuclear safety'.

"The fundamental problem lies in the fact that utilities, including Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), and the government failed to see the danger as reality," The Herald Sun quoted the 450-page report.

The report said that they were under the 'notion that severe accidents do not happen at nuclear plants in our country'.

The study, completed by a government-appointed panel, including scholars, journalists, lawyers and engineers, also said Fukushima staff was poorly trained to deal with the crisis after the plant's reactors went into meltdown last year.

Meltdowns at the plant sent clouds of radiation over a wide area, forcing thousands of people to leave their homes, and some even died.

The emergency power supply to the reactors' cooling systems was damaged by a tsunami due to a major earthquake.

The report also said that TEPCO and the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) were ill-prepared to cope with a tsunami and severe accidents.

"Preparedness for a large-scale complex disaster was insufficient; and they were unprepared for the release of a large amount of radioactive materials into the environment caused by a containment failure," the report added. (ANI)