14 DAY TRIAL // I've been aching to pick on Tepco (or Tokyo Electric Power Company, Incorporated, as the company likes to call itself in official documents), for quite a while now, and not because of the nuclear meltdown that occurred at Fukushima in March 2011.
In fact, I don't even want to badmouth the company for the seemingly endless string of contaminated water leaks that have been reported at the nuclear plant since the meltdown until present day.
On the contrary, I have a bone to pick with Tepco because of two fairly stupid incidents that have recently occurred at Fukushima and that could have easily been avoided had the company paid closer attention to what was happening at the facility.
First off, there's the issue of how an evil rat, i.e. one probably looking to destroy mankind and have its species take over the world, managed to shut down the cooling system of four nuclear pools all on its own in March 2013.
Apart from the fact that it worked alone, the rat did not even have to use heavy equipment to get the cooling system to stop working. All it did was pull a Tom Cruise in “Mission Impossible,” sneak inside a switchboard, and chew on some cables.
The result was a short-circuit and a subsequent power failure. True, the switchboard fought back and turned the rodent into a nice, cripsy chunk of dead meat, but at least the rat – better said, its spirit – can take pride in having succeeded in its mission.
In the aftermath of this incident, Tepco admitted that the thought of taking measures to keep wildlife out of the nuclear plant's premises had not crossed its mind, but promised that it would get to it as soon as possible.
Fast forward a few moths, and Fukushima is the scene of yet another accident that could have been prevented. Long story short, it was on Thursday, February 20, 2014 (that's right, about a week and a half ago) when about 100 tons of highly contaminated water leaked out of a storage tank.
According to Tepco, the leak happened because workers had mistakenly left two valves open and because the only valve that they did close was a faulty one. Hence, the tank overfilled and spilled some of its content.
Granted, the company did apologize for the workers' mistake later on, but I dare say there are certain situations when saying “I'm sorry” just doesn't cut it, and one should expect to be booed for the mistakes they make.
Now, I'm no nuclear plant operator, and I have to admit I have no intention of becoming one in the foreseeable future. Still, I cannot help but question Tepco's ability to handle Fukushima.
True, Tepco is no almighty ruler of all lands and seas, and therefore there is no way it could have prevented the 2011 earthquake and its subsequent tsunami from hitting the Fukushima nuclear plant.
I'm even willing to be the bigger person and say that some of the leaks that occurred at the facility over these past few years were beyond Tepco's control.
Then again, having a rat trigger a power failure at a nuclear plant and causing 100 tons to spill from a storage tank by forgetting to close a couple of valves sounds like something one would expect to read about in a novel of theater play that's leaning towards the absurd if you ask me.
Therefore, I cannot help but side with Greenpeace, several other organizations of its kind, and even some politicians who all say that Tepco just doesn't have what it takes to handle Fukushima, and should therefore not be allowed to be in charge of decommissioning it.
Unless people all around the world wake up one day and decide that they love nothing more than to read about blunders at an already crippled nuclear plant while enjoying their morning cup of coffee.