- Confused and often conflicting reports out of Fukushima
1 nuclear plant cannot be solely the result of tsunami-caused breakdowns,
bungling or miscommunication. Inexplicable delays and half-baked explanations
from Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and the Ministry of Economy,
Trade and Industry (METI) seem to be driven by some unspoken factor.
- The smoke and mirrors at Fukushima 1 seem to obscure
a steady purpose, an iron will and a grim task unknown to outsiders. The
most logical explanation: The nuclear industry and government agencies
are scrambling to prevent the discovery of atomic-bomb research facilities
hidden inside Japan's civilian nuclear power plants.
- A secret nuclear weapons program is a ghost in the machine,
detectable only when the system of information control momentarily lapses
or breaks down. A close look must be taken at the gap between the official
account and unexpected events.
- Conflicting Reports
- TEPCO, Japan's nuclear power operator, initially reported
three reactors were operating at the time of the March 11 Tohoku earthquake
and tsunami. Then a hydrogen explosion ripped Unit 3, run on plutonium-uranium
mixed oxide (or MOX). Unit 6 immediately disappeared from the list of operational
reactors, as highly lethal particles of plutonium billowed out of Unit
3. Plutonium is the stuff of smaller, more easily delivered warheads.
- A fire ignited inside the damaged housing of the Unit
4 reactor, reportedly due to overheating of spent uranium fuel rods in
a dry cooling pool. But the size of the fire indicates that this reactor
was running hot for some purpose other than electricity generation. Its
omission from the list of electricity-generating operations raises the
question of whether Unit 4 was being used to enrich uranium, the first
step of the process leading to extraction of weapons-grade fissionable
- The bloom of irradiated seawater across the Pacific comprises
another piece of the puzzle, because its underground source is untraceable
(or, perhaps, unmentionable). The flooded labyrinth of pipes, where the
bodies of two missing nuclear workers-never before disclosed to the press-
were found, could well contain the answer to the mystery: a lab that none
- Political Warfare
- In reaction to Prime Minister Naoto Kan's demand for
prompt reporting of problems, the pro-nuclear lobby has closed ranks, fencing
off and freezing out the prime minister's office from vital information.
A grand alliance of nuclear proponents now includes TEPCO, plant designer
General Electric, METI, the former ruling Liberal Democratic Party and,
by all signs, the White House.
- Cabinet ministers in charge of communication and national
emergencies recently lambasted METI head Banri Kaeda for acting as both
nuclear promoter and regulator in charge of the now-muzzled Nuclear and
Industrial Safety Commission. TEPCO struck back quickly, blaming the prime
minister's helicopter fly-over for delaying venting of volatile gases and
thereby causing a blast at Reactor 2. For "health reasons," TEPCO
's president retreated to a hospital ward, cutting Kan's line of communication
with the company and undermining his site visit to Fukushima 1.
- Kan is furthered hampered by his feud with Democratic
Party rival Ichiro Ozawa, the only potential ally with the clout to challenge
the formidable pro-nuclear coalition
- The head of the Liberal Democrats, which sponsored nuclear
power under its nearly 54-year tenure, has just held confidential talks
with U.S. Ambassador John Roos, while President Barack Obama was making
statements in support of new nuclear plants across the U.S.
- Cut Off From Communications
- The substance of undisclosed talks between Tokyo and
Washington can be surmised from disruptions to my recent phone calls to
a Japanese journalist colleague. While inside the radioactive hot zone,
his roaming number was disconnected, along with the mobiles of nuclear
workers at Fukushima 1 who are denied phone access to the outside world.
The service suspension is not due to design flaws. When helping to prepare
the Tohoku crisis respo