randomwisdom.com

Yes, there was an earthquake last Monday in Tottori-ken. Yes, I felt it in Miyagi. Yes, it woke me up from a nap (Monday was a holiday). And yes, a nuclear power plant far over the mountains somewhere in Tottori leaked.

As usual, the nuclear plant leak issue is being blown way out of proportion. Even with the new numbers, there wasn't really all that much radioactive material leaked. Granted, ANY leak in a minor quake like this is unacceptable, but it wouldn't have been a big deal if they had come out and said there was a problem in the first place. Unfortunately, Japanese plant managers are stupid and seem to have this problem with lying and stonewalling in an arena that really demands public transparency. Since according to the Japanese way of doing things they're probably going to be fired anyway, it would be better for the public perception of the power company and of nuclear power in general if they could tell the whole truth up front. Every time this happens the news media jump on it and say "Japanese nuclear power SCANDAL" and you know, they're right. A plant leaking a bit after a moderate quake isn't scandalous, but lying is.