Disaster preparation at Japan’s crippled nuclear power plant was so poor that workers had to bring protective gear from miles away and an emergency manual from distant buildings, according to a new report.

 

The report, released Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, portrayed the situation after the earthquake and tsunami as chaotic as employees struggled to bring things under control. Workers reportedly had to borrow a compressor from a contractor to get air ventilation going in one part of the plant, and they had to travel three miles to obtain protective gear before entering a building filled with radiation from a leaking reactor. They also had to borrow batteries and cables from a subcontractor to set up a backup system to gauge water levels.

 

The ordeal was reminiscent of the early days of the Iraq war, when American soldiers were so ill-equipped to combat roadside bombs that they or their families improvised solutions to offer better protection. In one case, a father designed shielding for the gun turret on Humvees to help his son survive insurgent attacks. In another case, members of an Army transportation company asked a local steel fabricator to craft extra armor for their trucks and Humvees before deploying to Iraq.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Fukushima Workers Had to Bring Their Own Protective Gear (by Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press)

Most Workers at Japanese Nuclear Plants are Contract Laborers (by Noel Brinkerhoff and David Wallechinsky)

Meltdown at Japanese Nuclear Power Plant…A Disaster Waiting to Happen (by David Wallechinsky, AllGov)

Father Builds Humvee Protection for Soldier Son (by Martin Kaste, Washington Post)

Army Thin-Skinned Over Homemade Armor (by David A. Lieb, Associated Press)