Letter: Japan's nuclear crisis no surprise

IT IS no surprise that Japanese prime minister Kan Naoto was not advised of the seriousness of the incident at Fukushima Daiichi until the evening of 11 March (News, 27 March). "Information-sharing" is not a buzz word in government agencies.

The industries included in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's administrative territory are nuclear, oil, gas, mining and electricity. METI regulates the power utilities. Its Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency gives permits to power companies to build reactors. In December 2010, Tepco received permission to build a nuclear reactor in Aomori despite vehement opposition from local residents.

The Japanese are aware of those institutional arrangements and various mechanisms in the civil service system that enable the ministries to establish close links to industries under their administrative jurisdiction. Kan has been trying to reform this system, but with little success.

There will be an investigation into why Daiichi was not designed to withstand a major earthquake-prone zone and why the plant has not been closed down despite problems that had been plaguing it as far back as 1971, such as cracks, leaks of radioactivity triggered by earthquakes, an incident that killed one worker and lawsuits brought by local residents to stop operations.

Dr Susan Carpenter, International Markets Analysts Ltd, Edinburgh