Investigation on nuclear crisis to involve hearing from 200 people+

TOKYO, July 8 Kyodo -
An independent panel investigating the causes of the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant plans to hear from several hundred people involved in the handling of the crisis, the panel said Friday.
Panel head Yotaro Hatamura, a researcher on human error, said during the second gathering of panel members that intensive investigation will be carried out during the period until the next meeting, which is scheduled for Sept. 27.
He also said at a press conference after the meeting that some hearings may be made open to the public if the person involved agrees, keeping in mind public figures such as senior officials of the government and of the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co.
During Friday's meeting, the panel, which the Cabinet approved to form in May, decided more in detail about issues it intends to look into by setting up three teams, which are tasked with analyzing the situation before the crisis, the causes of the crisis, and steps taken after the crisis to prevent the damage from spreading.
The panel plans to compile a midterm report of its findings by the end of this year.
Hit by the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and massive tsunami waves on March 11, the six-reactor nuclear complex in northeastern Japan lost nearly all its power sources, leading the cooling functions of the reactors and spent nuclear fuel pools at the Nos. 1 to 4 units to fail.
The nuclear crisis has turned out to be the world's worst in terms of radiation leakage since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, and Tokyo Electric is still struggling to contain the crisis.
But Goshi Hosono, minister in charge of nuclear accidents, said the utility known as TEPCO is likely to achieve stable cooling of the crippled reactors by mid-July as initially planned.
''Through the efforts of the workers on-site, the goal is to be achieved,'' Hosono said in a media interview.
As what is known as ''step one'' is likely be achieved by July 17, Hosono also said the government and TEPCO hope to announce an updated version of a road map toward restoration of the plant on July 19.
Under the current road map, TEPCO plans to achieve a cold shutdown of the reactors during the three to six months after step one is cleared.
Meanwhile, the utility said the largest tsunami wave that hit the Fukushima Daiichi plant in March is estimated to have been 13 meters high, measured at the plant's tide station, and about 9 meters high at the Fukushima Daini plant, located about 10 kilometers south of the Daiichi complex.
Earlier findings suggested the tsunami height was about 14 to 15 meters above sea level at both plants, but the actual height of the waves that reached the plants had not been clear.
The latest estimates are based on a simulation using data of tsunami damage across eastern and northeastern prefectures.
==Kyodo
2011-07-08 23:58:01