Tokyo 'acted too slowly' on leaks at Fukushima
Japanese government 'lost focus' on problem of radioactive water, says former US nuclear chief
A former US nuclear regulatory chief said yesterday that leaks of contaminated water at the crippled Fukushima plant had been recognised since early in the crisis and have worsened because Japan acted too slowly.
Gregory Jaczko said US and Japanese officials knew leaks would occur when massive amounts of water were used to cool molten reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant after the tsunami in March 2011.
Jaczko said he was surprised how long it took Japan to start tackling the problem.
"It's been known for a long time that this would be an issue," he said in Tokyo.
"My biggest surprise is to some extent how it's been allowed to deteriorate, a little bit, and how it's almost become a surprise again that there are contamination problems, that there is leakage out into the sea."
When the plant was in a critical condition with three reactor cores melted, Jaczko said Japanese and US officials disputed how much water should be put in because of the imminent leaks of radiation-contaminated water and measures needed to contain that problem.