Also on January 19 and 20, work accidents involving civil and mechanical engineering work occurred at TEPCO’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa and Fukushima Daini NPSs. At the latter, an employee of a contract company died. Viewing the situations with the utmost seriousness, TEPCO called an extraordinary press conference linking its head office in Tokyo and its offices in Fukushima Prefecture and Niigata Prefecture, to explain the investigations underway into the causes and its preventive measures.
At a regular meeting of the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) on January 21, NRA Chairman Shunichi Tanaka referred to the work accident at Fukushima Daiichi. He said one of the causes was the fact that TEPCO continues to build such water tanks. He reiterated his belief that contaminated water that, after treatment, is below permissible limits, should be released to the sea.
At the time he made his original statement, there was an outcry from the public against release of the water into the sea. This time, responding with intense anger, he demanded: “Even if a person dies?”
Addressing himself to TEPCO, the chairman said: “It is important to listen to public opinion, but human life must not be lost for the sake of echoing public views. You are not yet demonstrating ‘appropriate determination.’”
