The nuclear disaster that happened last March after the terrible earthquake and tsunami was a real tragedy. After doing some research on the matter, it was so sad to watch the youtube videos of all the people who were not warned and were swept away by the tremendous waves. I also feel very badly for the employees and their families of the TEPCO nuclear plant. They had no choice but to be exposed to all the harmful radiation in order to stop or at least slow the leaking of radiation from the damaged boiling reactors.
After doing some research over the past week on the subject, it seems as though General Electric, the engineers and designers of the plant, and TEPCO ( Tokyo Electrical Power Company) the maintainers of the plant, were warned several times over the years of the dangers of the design of this plant to a natural disaster. Considering this plant is not in a very good country for things such as earthquakes and tsunamis because of the tectonic plate and fault line it is located on, I feel that TEPCO and General Electric are responsible for not taking better precautions to the surrounding elements of this plant.
In 1976, after a falsified record scandal, GE was warned of major flaws in their design. Many of the engineers and designers of GE resigned and protested against the company and its negligence.
In 1991 a leak in the basement of the Nuclear Plant cause one of the back up generators to fail. Engineers told TEPCO that is this flood was a problem for the generators, then a tsunami should be considered and to move the plant to higher ground to prevent this. The company ignored this warning sign and instead installed doors in the basement of the reactors to prevent leaking.
In March of 2006, just five years before the incident, the Japanese government opposed a court order of the nuclear plant to close over fear that it would be unable to withstand an earthquake.
In 2007 TEPCO set up a department to check the safety of all its nuclear facilities. An in house study showed that the plant needed to be fixed immediately for flooding from sea water. Officials at the headquarters of the plant once again ignored the warning signs and said that tsunami waves that big were unrealistic.
In 2008 the International Atomic Energy Agency showed concern for the plant to withstand an earthquake of more that 7.0 magnitude and would cause serious problems for all Japanese plants.
With all of these warning signs from multiple different people and agencies, TEPCO did nothing to help reinforce and keep the nuclear plant safe for all the surrounding areas of the plant, and its employees. I feel they should be held responsible on all accounts