Fukushima Reactor Unit 3: ‘It Was A Nuclear Explosion’ – ‘There’s Willful Denial And Lying Going On Here, Even At The Highest Levels’

– Reactor Designer: “It was a nuclear explosion” at Fukushima Unit 3; Plutonium scattered after blast — ABC: “There’s willful denial and lying going on here, even at the highest levels” (AUDIO) (ENENews, Nov 5, 2013):

ABC Australia, June 26, 2013 (At 8:15 in): Even [Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan] can’t get answers. There’s one point he’s back in his office watching reactor 3 explode, there’s black smoke. “What’s going on,” asks Kan. There was silence. No one had any answer. But then over at Tepco, they’re watching that too. They know what’s going on, but the president of Tepco basically says, “Well, don’t tell them that, tell them something different.” Basically tell them it was a hydrogen explosion. So there’s willful denial and lying going on here, even at the highest levels. Even the Prime Minister can’t get the answers.

Akio Takahashi, a senior Tepco official: “We do not know whether it was a hydrogen explosion, but since the government–the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency–is saying it is a hydrogen explosion, we can just say so–a hydrogen explosion, can’t we?”

‘Fukushima‘ by ABC correspondent Mark Willacy, published July 1, 2013 (Excerpt): ‘All right. I agree. This is fine,’ replied [Tepco] President Shimizu. And that was exactly what happened. At a press conference later that day, a TEPCO public-relations official said with utmost confidence, it was a hydrogen explosion.’ But the exact cause of the Reactor 3 blast has even now not been conclusively determined. Some have speculated it could have been a nuclear explosion — just like Chernobyl. ‘I watched video of the Reactor 3 explosion,’ said veteran Japanese nuclear-reactor designer Setsuo Fujiwara. ‘There was an orange flash, which suggests the temperature must have been thousands of degrees centigrade before the explosion. Then there was black smoke.’ Fujiwara insisted to me that a hydrogen explosion created white smoke and steam, as witnessed after the Reactor 1 building was torn apart. He continued, ‘The second piece of evidence is that plutonium was scattered about after this blast. Plutonium is consistent with the mixed oxide fuel [used in Reactor 3]. The third point is that the Reactor 3 building was bent like candy, unlike the Reactor 1 building, where the steel framework remained intact. So this could only mean it was a nuclear explosion.’

Full ABC broadcast available here