TEPCO

[Alan Siegrist]

Hi Minoru,

Nice to hear from you again. Thanks for the note.

You make a very good point about the relative risks: many deaths from
the earthquake and tsunami as natural disasters, versus no deaths yet
from the reactor crisis.

This is why I have focused my discussion so far on the economic
consequences of the reactor accident. Yes, I am sure that TEPCO had
given some consideration to the idea of spare off-site emergency
diesel generators (an idea so obvious that *even I* could have thought
of it), but they decided not to adopt this strategy for some reason
(possibly cost). In retrospect, I believe that this fairly simple and
inexpensive measure could have prevented most of the damage to the
plant (probably a total loss) and the ongoing huge expenses of
cleanup.

Instead, TEPCO is now facing an ongoing crisis that could possibly
bankrupt the company and force its takeover by the government.

I am questioning the wisdom of this decision by TEPCO and the Japanese
regulators that permitted the design without this backup safety
measure.

Best,

Alan

From: Minoru Mochizuki [mailto:min...@rhythm.ocn.ne.jp]
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2011 4:32 PM
To: 'Alan Siegrist'
Subject: TEPCO

Hi Alan,

Long time no see.

The ideas that you guys are discussing about on what TEPCO could have
done to prevent disasters at Fukushima Daiichi Genpatsu are, I am
sure, all considered when TEPCO defined the parameters to the
designers and constructors in 1960s, i.e., to GE, Ebasco, Toshiba,
Hitachi, and Kajima. The first two are U.S. firms and the rest is
Japanese companies. What TEPCO did was primarily the general planning
including the site selection and the plan for protection against
possible earthquake/tsunami.

The key point you guys have to consider is that approximately 300,000
people who are dead or estimated to be dead because of this natural
disaster died because of the tsunami and not a single person is dead
(so far) because of exposure to radiation, i.e., related to what
happened in Fukushima Daiichi Genpatsu.

An investment has to be reasonable. You cannot drive a tank instead of
a car , even if it is obvious to you that a tank withstands better in
a collision accident. Investors in TEPCO knew the risk and they
approved the construction of a nuclear power station.

Minoru Mochizuki