政府事故調報告 原発の安全向上に教訓生かせ

The Yomiuri Shimbun (Jul. 25, 2012)
Use lessons of Fukushima to improve N-plant safety
政府事故調報告　原発の安全向上に教訓生かせ（7月24日付・読売社説）

　◆「想定外」に備える危機対策を

Based on lessons learned from the results of investigations into the unprecedented nuclear power plant crisis, the government and electric power companies must work on measures to prevent future nuclear accidents.
　未曽有の原子力発電所事故の調査結果を教訓とし、政府と電力会社は、再発防止に取り組まねばならない。

The government's Nuclear Incident Investigation and Verification Committee, responsible for looking into the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, released its final report on Monday.
　東京電力福島第一原発事故に関する政府の事故調査・検証委員会が最終報告書をまとめ、公表した。

Investigation commissions of the Diet and TEPCO as well as a private independent investigation panel have already released their respective reports on the crisis. With these four reports, clarification of the cause of the crisis and how it developed as well as identification of problems in the responses to it by the government and TEPCO have come to an end for the moment.
　国会と東電の各事故調と民間の独立検証委員会が、それぞれ報告書を発表済みだ。四つの報告書が出そろい、事故の原因や経緯、政府や東電の問題点などの解明は一区切りがついた。

However, it will take more time to uncover the full scope of the crisis. It is necessary from now on to review crisis countermeasures to secure the safety of nuclear power plants while continuing a probe into the Fukushima disaster.
　だが、事故の全容解明にはまだ時間を要するだろう。今後も調査を継続しながら、危機対策を練り直し、原発の安全性を確保していく必要がある。

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Report denies quake damage
　◆地震による損傷を否定

The government committee's investigation was characterized by detailed analysis of the technological aspects of the crisis based on a massive amount of data. This is because committee chairman Yotaro Hatamura, who advocates the "study of failure," placed importance on clarifying the truth of the crisis rather than finding out who is to blame.
　政府事故調は、膨大なデータに基づき事故の技術的な側面を詳細に分析した点が特徴だ。「失敗学」を提唱している畑村洋太郎委員長が、責任追及よりも事実の解明に重点を置いたからだ。

The final report of the government's committee criticizes reports by other investigation panels, saying much of their content is based on obvious misinterpretation of facts.
　最終報告書は、他の事故調による報告書について、「明らかな事実誤認を前提としているものが多い」と批判している。

For example, the Diet's Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission emphasized the possibility that the March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake may have destroyed important reactor functions. However, the government's committee rejected the possibility that the earthquake damaged the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant's Nos. 1 to 3 reactors in a way that would have impaired the containment of radiation.
　例えば、国会事故調は地震で原子炉の重要機能が壊れた可能性を強調したが、政府事故調は、地震で福島第一原発１～３号機に「（放射能の）閉じ込め機能を損なうような損傷が生じた可能性は否定される」と、反論した。

The reactors' operation data show that important equipment was functioning normally until the tsunami hit the plant. The analysis by the government's committee, which identified the tsunami, not the earthquake, as the main cause of the crisis, is persuasive.
　原子炉の運転データからは、原発の重要機器が津波襲来まで正常に機能していたことが分かっている。地震ではなく、津波が事故の主因とした政府事故調の分析には説得力がある。

Since the outbreak of the nuclear crisis, the government has been working on measures against tsunami at nuclear power plants throughout the country. To reactivate idled reactors, we hope the government will explain the appropriateness of these measures to the public to ease their anxiety.
　政府は、事故後、全国の原発で津波対策に取り組んできた。再稼働に向け、この対策が適切であることを国民に説明し、不安感の軽減につなげてもらいたい。

It is also important that the final report of the government's committee suggested the possibility that core meltdowns could have been prevented if TEPCO had appropriately responded to the situation after the tsunami hit the plant.
　東電が津波発生後に適切に対応していれば、炉心溶融（メルトダウン）を防げた可能性がある、と示唆した点も重要だ。

The report concluded that the reactors' core could have been cooled before meltdown if measures had been immediately taken to lower pressure in the reactors before the situation worsened.
　事態が悪化する前に、現場が速やかに原子炉内の圧力を下げる措置を取っていれば、溶融前に炉心の冷却ができたと断じている。

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Crisis response flawed

The report harshly evaluated TEPCO's ability--or lack thereof to respond to crises.
　東電の危機対応力の欠如に厳しい評価を下したと言える。

Meanwhile, as other investigation commissions have done, the government committee had tough words about the then government's bungled handling of the crisis.
　一方、他の事故調と同様、政府事故調が辛口の評価をしているのが、当時の政府の不手際だ。

　◆不備だった官邸の対応

Regarding the crisis response by the Prime Minister's Office, the report says, "The lack of information, and its uneven distribution, made it inevitable for the office to make decisions without sufficient basis."
　首相官邸の対応について、「情報の不足と偏在が生じ、十分な情報がないままに意思決定せざるを得なかった」とした。

Then Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his Cabinet ministers failed to adequately utilize a crisis control center set up in the basement of the Prime Minister's Office, where senior officials of relevant government offices were gathered. As a result, data from the System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information (SPEEDI) was not used in giving evacuation guidance to residents.
　菅首相や閣僚が、各府省幹部らが集まる官邸地下の「危機管理センター」を十分に活用しなかったためだ。その結果、放射性物質拡散予測システム「ＳＰＥＥＤＩ」を住民の避難誘導に利用することは検討もされなかった。

The Democratic Party of Japan-led government failed to make effective use of the bureaucratic machine due to its erroneous implementation of what it calls "politician-led politics." The government is largely to blame for having confounded the situation.
　民主党政権が、誤った「政治主導」で官僚組織を使いこなせず、事態を混乱させた責任は重い。

Kan, who prided himself on being more familiar with nuclear matters than other Cabinet members, "didn't try to tackle the crisis systematically," the report says. The report criticizes Kan for his intervention in frontline crisis control operations, including his visit to the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant the day after it was crippled by the March 11 disaster.
　最終報告書によると、原子力に「土地鑑」があると自負していた菅氏は「組織的に事態収拾に当たろうとしなかった」という。事故直後の原発視察を始めとする現場介入も、「弊害の方が大きい」と批判した。

The Prime Minister's Office asked the government offices concerned and TEPCO to have prior consultations with it concerning the content of information to be published, thereby causing delays in providing information to the public on meltdown and other problems at the nuclear reactors.
　官邸が各府省や東電に対して、広報内容の事前連絡を求めたため、メルトダウンなど原発の状況に関する国民への情報提供も遅れた。

It is natural that the panel pointed these problems out in its final report. Efforts must be made to improve the way information is handled in times of crisis.
　こうした問題を指摘したのは当然である。危機的状況での情報発信の改善が求められよう。

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Obsession with safety myth
　◆今後も事故究明続けよ

As a reason for the failure to prevent the accident, the final report says, "TEPCO and the government were obsessed with the myth that nuclear plants are safe," and criticizes such a stance as a fundamental problem. The report also points out that the government, due to its fiscal constraints, "set aside disasters with a lower probability of occurrence" from a list of those subject to strengthened countermeasures.
　事故を防げなかった理由について、最終報告書は「東電も国も安全神話にとらわれていた」ことが根源的な問題、と批判した。政府が財源難から「発生確率の低い事象を除外」したとも指摘した。

In addition, the March 11 catastrophe was a complex disaster in which the nuclear crisis and natural disaster occurred simultaneously. It is essential to work out adequate precautionary measures to deal with a crisis that is anticipated to inflict serious damage even if the probability of its occurrence is slight.
　しかも、今回は、原発事故と自然災害が同時に起きる「複合災害」だった。発生確率が低くても甚大な被害が予想される危機への十分な備えは欠かせない。

The new nuclear regulatory commission to be established by the government must put priority on measures to be taken in ordinary times, such as formulating disaster-management programs and conducting disaster-response drills, on the assumption that a serious accident will happen.
　新たに発足する政府の原子力規制委員会は、深刻な事故を想定した防災計画の策定や防災訓練の実施といった平時からの準備に重点を置く必要がある。

The Fukushima nuclear crisis has attracted global interest. The decommissioning of reactors, which will go on for a long time, and efforts to help disaster victims put their lives back together must be demonstrated, both at home and abroad.
　国際的にも、事故への関心は高い。長期にわたる廃炉作業や被災者の生活再建の状況を国内外に示さねばならない。

In his personal impressions attached to the end of the report, Hatamura listed lessons from the disaster, including, "Simply creating the framework of a system does not mean it will work," and "Changes must be dealt with flexibly."
　畑村委員長は、締めくくりの所感で「形を作っただけでは機能しない」「変化に柔軟に対応する」など、教訓を列挙した。

In addition to the importance of organizational reform, he stressed the need for members of an organization to be aware that there could be oversight in human thinking and prepare for events beyond their assumptions.
　組織を改編するだけでなく、その構成員が、人間の考えには欠落があることを自覚し、「想定外」に備える重要性を訴えている。

All those involved in the nuclear power field must take these words to heart.
　原子力に携わる全関係者は、肝に銘じるべきである。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, July 24, 2012)
（2012年7月24日01時37分 読売新聞）