Japan task force kept no records of nuclear crisis response
By Yoko Kubota and Shinichi Saoshiro; Editing by Jonathan Thatcher
24 January 2012
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s energy minister admitted on Tuesday that no records were kept of top level discussions in the critical early days on how to respond to the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 25 years. The admission, and apology, by Trade Minister Yukio Edano comes in the face of widespread debate over the government’s response to the Fukushima nuclear crisis triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami last March. “It is inconceivable that there were no records kept. It may have been difficult to keep official logs during the extreme confusion after the crisis, but they could have taken simple memos,” said Kenji Sumita, an emeritus professor at Osaka University who specializes in nuclear engineering. “Perhaps there were some goings on that the participants did not feel comfortable being made public,” he said. A government task force was set up by then-Prime Minister Naoto Kan to deal with the nuclear disaster. Its failure to keep records emerged after public broadcaster NHK sought details of its discussions. NHK said it found only one-page logs that listed the agenda items discussed at each meeting. […]
