How did Japan's nuclear industry become so arrogant?

http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/h5n1/2011/04/how-did-japans-nuclear-industry-become-so-arrogant.html

April 25, 2011
How did Japan's nuclear industry become so arrogant?



*** Tetsunari Iida is in the video with the advisor who describes the meltdowns in #1,2,3

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Via The Mainichi Daily News, an op-ed by a Japanese journalist who's covered nuclear power: How did Japan's nuclear industry become so arrogant? Excerpt:

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Tetsunari Iida, a former nuclear engineer who currently heads the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies, says that the industry is dominated by a closely-knit nuclear establishment. Those who graduate from universities and graduate from schools with degrees in nuclear power engineering go on to work at power companies, energy-related manufacturers, or municipalities that host nuclear power stations.

Everything comes down to personal networks, and who the graduating students go on to work for is largely influenced by the connections and interests of the students' professors.

Regardless of whether the employers are public or private organizations, the newly inducted engineers are raised to become full-fledged members of the nuclear establishment.

Accidents involving nuclear power plants are widely covered by the press, and are subject to intense criticism from citizens' groups. Because the nuclear establishment takes on a victim mentality when subjected to such pressure, it one-sidedly labels criticism from opponents as "opinions of mere laypersons," further reinforcing its self-righteous opinion of itself as the experts.

Nuclear safety regulation in Japan is ostensibly covered under a "double-check" system, but in practice, the system has not functioned sufficiently. Since both those in a position to be checked and those in a position to do the checking come from the same establishment, they are motivated to take action that will protect their common interests.

As for NISA, there's a fundamental structural problem in that it is but an arm of METI, the government ministry in charge of promoting nuclear power generation.

A comparison of the agencies overseeing nuclear energy in Japan and the U.S., respectively, is also telling. While the U.S. agency is called the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), its Japanese counterpart is called the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA). The conclusion we can reach from this is that by focusing so much on promoting the "safety" of nuclear energy, "regulation" and "supervision" have been left on the back burner. MORE AT THE LINK

In fact, I'd venture that ona comparative basis Japan is slightly better than most. What I've seen of the US and French makes my hair curl.

and the momentum better continue, we can't say that we didn't know anymore, it's clear the industry is corrupt at various points. The public pays for and is a victim of these kinds of organizations.

And guess who built that power plant in japan? GE. So don't think we are any better here.