Chernobyl Expert Says Greed May Lead to Big Trouble in Japan

Corporate interests might have played a big part in the design and maintenance of Japan’s nuclear complex at Fukushima, according to Russian nuclear accident expert Iouli Andreev, who knows a thing or two from Chernobyl’s example — and who called the International Atomic Energy Agency “a fake organization.” –KA

Reuters:

Andreev said a fire which released radiation on Tuesday involving spent fuel rods stored close to reactors at Fukushima looked like an example of putting profit before safety:

“The Japanese were very greedy and they used every square inch of the space. But when you have a dense placing of spent fuel in the basin you have a high possibility of fire if the water is removed from the basin,” Andreev said.

The IAEA should share blame for standards, he said, arguing it was too close to corporations building and running plants. And he dismissed an emergency incident team set up by the Vienna-based agency as “only a think-tank not a working force”:

“This is only a fake organization because every organization which depends on the nuclear industry — and the IAEA depends on the nuclear industry — cannot perform properly.

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