A Diet-appointed panel investigating the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster said Thursday that plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. and regulators failed to take proper safety steps amid cozy ties, calling it "clearly a man-made disaster."
"There were many opportunities for taking preventive measures prior to March 11 (2011)," the panel said in its report released the same day, while noting that the direct cause of the accident should not be limited to the more than 10-meter-high tsunami waves that ravaged the plant on March 11, 2011, as insisted by the utility.
The report goes on to say the company known as TEPCO and nuclear regulatory authorities "failed to correctly develop the most basic safety requirements," such as preparing for possible severe nuclear accidents and developing evacuation plans for the public in the case of a serious nuclear radiation release.
