"there are alternatives...but even with blackouts, we CAN survive without nuclear power"

A Japanese government report Monday heaped fresh criticism on the operator of the nuclear power plant where a disastrous accident was set off last year by the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit the country.

The measures taken by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the plant operator, and the Japanese nuclear regulator to prepare for disasters were "insufficient," the report by a government-formed panel of investigators said, and the response to the crisis was "inadequate."

Even now, more than one year after the disaster began, TEPCO does not seem aggressive enough in examining the causes of the accident at the plant to prevent a recurrence, the 10-member panel, led by Tokyo University engineering professor Yotaro Hatamura, said in the report Monday.

TEPCO also found itself under further scrutiny over the weekend when the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said it was investigating a report that subcontracted workers at the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant were told to use lead covers in order to hide unsafe radiation levels.

This amid growing protests to switch Japan to safer energy sources.

Last Friday was the seventh protest that Nagisa Saito has attended."What impresses me most is... people never gave up and the crowd is getting bigger and bigger," she said. "Even on a bad rainy day like today, we see this many people gathered, it's amazing."

But one anti-nuclear protester, who gave his name only as Ozaki, said it was not a simple choice between nuclear and blackouts. "If there is a power shortage, there are alternatives," he said. "What about coal-fired power stations, hydro-electric power stations, or we can just survive with what we have. We have to be patient, but even with blackouts, we can survive without nuclear power." CNN