TOKYO - A panel investigating Japan’s nuclear disaster said Saturday that the former prime minister and his aides caused confusion at the height of last year’s crisis by heavily interfering in the damaged and leaking plant’s operation.
Shuya Nomura, a member of the parliamentary panel, said that Naoto Kan’s aides made numerous calls to the Fukushima Daiichi plant, often asking basic questions and distracting workers, thus causing more confusion.
They did not follow the official line of communication - through the regulator, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency - under the country’s nuclear disaster management law, he said.
“They asked questions that were often inappropriate and very basic, unnecessarily causing more work in addition to the operation at the site,’’ he said.
During the crisis, Kan and his ministers said that the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., provided hardly any information as workers desperately tried to prevent the reactors from exploding, forcing them to go out of their way and ask.
The panel, which has power to issue subpoenas, also revealed Saturday that Tokyo Electric considered evacuating all but 10 workers, but Kan ordered them to keep working.
There were about 700 workers from Tokyo Electric and its affiliate companies when the March 11 earthquake struck the plant, destroying its power and cooling system and triggering meltdowns at three reactors. About 70 workers eventually managed to bring the plant under control.
The panel also criticized Kan and his government for not releasing radiation data and other critical information, thereby causing unnecessary exposures and creating widespread distrust of the government.
The panel will release a full report later in June.
Appearing on national television Friday, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda asked the public to support restarting the first of Japan’s idled nuclear plants. He said that keeping all the plants closed could cause blackouts and economic chaos.
The government hopes to restart of the Ohi plant in western Japan, which provides power to the urbanized Kansai region, including the cities of Osaka and Kyoto. Noda has said Kansai, which is home to the nation’s electronics industry, faces the most severe potential electricity shortages during the summer, when air-conditioner use surges.
The Japanese public has been deeply distrustful since last year’s nuclear disaster and revelations that government officials played down the risks of the meltdown. Polls indicate most voters do not believe it is safe to turn the plants back on, despite the consequences for the economy.
Noda said in his speech that he had concluded that Japan could not maintain its living standards without nuclear power, at least in the short term.