AFP, ASAHI SHIMBUN (Japan), NAIIC (Japan)
TOKYO – Lambasting both Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) and the prime minister’s office, the national task force investigating last year’s accident at Fukushima's No. 1 nuclear plant concluded that human error played a role in the reactor’s meltdown, and was not only due to the tsunami that hit the plant, the Asahi Shimbun, the Japanese daily, reports.
“The accident was not a natural disaster but was apparently a man-made disaster,” the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission (NAIIC) said in its final report released Thursday.
The panel concluded: "The crisis management system of the prime minister’s office and the regulatory authorities did not function.”
Meanwhile, electricity generated from nuclear fission has began flowing again in Japan on Thursday, ending a nearly two-month hiatus in the aftermath of the Fukushima meltdowns, AFP reports.
The restart of the first reactor in the town of Ohi in Fukui prefecture sparked large protests in Tokyo, but Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda urged support for the move, saying a return to nuclear power was essential for the economy, BBC News reports.
