See Fairewinds report for Greenpeace Chapter 3: The Echo Chamber Effect as well as this article in The Guardian: Fukushima reactor meltdown was man-made disaster says official report. Japanese investigators say tsunami wasn't sole cause of nuclear accident and criticise collusion and poor regulation.

Last year's accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was a manmade disaster caused by poor regulation and collusion between the government, the operator and the industry's watchdog, a report has said.

In a highly critical assessment published on Thursday, a Japanese parliamentary panel challenged claims by the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), that the triple meltdown at the plant in north-east Japan had been caused solely by a 14-metre tsunami on 11 March last year. The panel said the magnitude-9 earthquake that preceded the waves could not be ruled out as a cause of the accident.

It accused Tepco and regulators at the nuclear and industrial safety agency of failing to take adequate safety measures, despite evidence that the area was susceptible to powerful earthquakes and tsunamis.

"The Fukushima nuclear power plant accident was the result of collusion between the government, the regulators and Tepco, and the lack of governance by said parties," said the report, compiled by the Fukushima nuclear accident independent investigation commission.

"They effectively betrayed the nation's right to be safe from nuclear accidents. Therefore, we conclude that the accident was clearly 'man-made'.

This couldn't have come as a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention, but more attention is exactly what must be called to the flaws surrounding nuclear safety (or lack there of). We cannot afford another disaster like Fukushima but we will see more than one unless we move on to safer sustainable energy sources.

[NEW] NAIIC official report click here.