Reports Leaking Citing 14 Reactors in Similar Condition as Fukushima..
In the meantime, various reports are leaking out of Japan including a video on Asahi TV which shows mutated plants in Tokyo, and a report on ENE News citing a former Fukushima Daiichi Reactor Operator claiming that they routinely falsified data and rewrote operations reports. (Source : http://enenews.com/must-see-report-introduced-by-top-govt-official-hosono-actually-other-reactors-are-all-in-considerably-severe-condition-besides-fukushima-daiichi-14-reactor
Ironically, sources as conservative as Bloomberg News have cited similar safety concerns. A piece by Jason Clenfield which ran on March 22, 2011, detailed how engineer Mitsuhiko Tanaka helped cover-up a "manufacturing defect' in Fukushima Daiichi No. 4 reactor while employed by Hitachi Ltd. in 1974. Tanaka has dubbed Reactor #4 as a "time bomb,' and has pleaded with government officials repeatedly only to be pushed aside and ignored.
Yuichi Izumisawa, a Hitachi spokesman explained how the company conferred with Tanaka back in 1988, concluding no further safety concern existed. Izumisawa was recently quoted stating that..."We have not revised our view since then." (Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-23/fukushima-engineer-says-he-covered-up-flaw-at-shut-reactor.html )
Kenta Takahashi from the Japanese Trade Ministry's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency would not confirm if an investigation into Tanaka's allegations had been initiated by its predecessor, the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy. (Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-23/fukushima-engineer-says-he-covered-up-flaw-at-shut-reactor.html )
Tokyo Electric Power Co. Spokesman Naoki Tsunoda declined to comment. Tokyo Electric or TEPCO owns the plant and is the same vendor tapped to build new nuclear plants in the U.S. currently planned by the Obama administration.
...The fatal flaw in reactor #4....
According to Tanaka, the reactor pressure vessel had warped walls which caused the vessel to sag, resulting in a height and weight differentiation of more than 34 millimeters. During the last step in a manufacturing process at the Babcock-Hitachi foundry in Kure City, a deadly mistake was made. Braces which had to be placed inside the reactor pressure vessel during a blast furnace firing were absent. It's unclear whether the braces collapsed or were forgotten entirely. The omission of these braces produced a reactor pressure vessel with warped walls.
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