Japan panel says Fukushima operator 'failing to ensure safety of nuke operations'

Tokyo, July 24 (ANI): The operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is still failing to ensure the safety of its nuclear operations properly, a government-appointed panel has said.

The panel, which is looking into the causes of disastrous accident in 2011, said Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) still doesn't have the ability to respond flexibly to unexpected situations.

The report pointed out that the company also isn't trying hard enough to figure out what went wrong after March 11 last year, when a massive earthquake and tsunami knocked out power and sent reactors spinning out of control, The Wall Street Journal reports.

"Even more than a year after the disaster, Tepco isn't showing a sufficient amount of willingness to investigate the accident thoroughly in order to avoid a recurrence of such disasters," the report said.

According to the paper, the 448-page report also argued that Tepco, a monopoly utility, responded to the disaster only according to a manual, showing little ingenuity or flexibility in dealing with the rapidly unfolding crisis.

The panel's chairman Yotaro Hatamura pointed out that these problems are so entrenched in the utility's corporate culture that 'it may be necessary to create a totally new organization rather than try to fix the problems.'

According to the Journal, Tepco said that while it is aware of the report it needs to examine its contents carefully before commenting. (ANI)