"NRA blames tsunami for equipment failure at Fukushima plant"
July 19, 2014 As reported by the Asahi Shimbun, Japan's fledgling Nuclear Regulatory Authority has concluded that the tsunami of 3/11/11, not the earthquake, caused the damage to safety and cooling systems that led to the triple meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi.
As the article reports:
"Whether the isolation condensers were already damaged by the quake is an issue of significant implications, raising the question of the adequacy of anti-quake preparedness measures at the Fukushima plant and other nuclear facilities."
Whistleblowers working in Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1 at the time of the earthquake reported water leaking on the fourth floor, before the tsunami struck. The Japanese Parliamentary investigation into the nuclear disaster questioned whether this leaking water was from the reactor cooling condensers, and was caused by the quake directly. The investigators also questioned the timing on the loss of essential power to run safety and cooling systems at Unit 1 -- whether it was lost before or after the tsunami struck.
Unit 1 was the first to meltdown and explode, within the first day. The malfunction of its condeners played a major role in that meltdown.
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