Tokyo: The Japanese government was aware of the possibility of a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant on the very day the complex was hit by the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami last March, according to newly unveiled documents.
A summary of the meetings of the government`s nuclear emergency headquarters show that the possibility of a meltdown was pointed out by an unidentified attendee at the first meeting convened soon after the plant was hit by the killer quake on March 11, 2011, the Kyodo news agency reported.
The summary was unveiled just before the first anniversary of the natural disasters, which devastated the country`s northeastern coast and triggered the world`s worst nuclear crisis since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Three nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant suffered meltdowns.
Under fire for failing to create minutes of the meetings, the government has created the summary from memos written by officials of the nuclear safety agency and other government organisations who were attending the meetings.
The document showed that a participant said, "There is a need to move emergency diesel generators to cool (the reactors), but they are not moving because of tsunami. The only thing that is moving is cooling (equipment) that can be operated by batteries. This will last for eight hours." "If the temperature of the reactor rises after eight hours, there is a possibility that a meltdown will occur," the summary quoted the person as saying.
PTI