Fukushima inspectors ‘careless’, says Japan nuclear regulator

The operator of Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant was careless in monitoring tanks storing dangerously radioactive water, the nuclear regulator said on Friday, the latest development in a crisis no one seems to know how to contain.

Tokyo Electric Power also failed to keep records of inspections of the tanks, Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) Commissioner Toyoshi Fuketa told reporters after a visit to the nearby Fukushima Daiichi plant.

Fuketa visited the plant on Friday after NRA chairman Shunichi Tanaka said this week he was concerned more of the hastily built giant containers would fail.

“Fundamentally, for a facility holding that kind of radioactive water, they did not take action that foresaw the risks of possible leaks,” Fuketa said.

“On top of that, and this is an impression I had before my visit, I can’t help but say that the inspections were careless.”

Japan’s nuclear crisis this week escalated to its worst level since a massive earthquake and tsunami crippled the plant more than two years ago, with Tokyo Electric saying a tank holding highly contaminated water leaked 300 tonnes of radioactive fluid.