Japan's Fukushima nuclear crisis was a preventable disaster, the report of an expert panel into the disaster said yesterday. The disaster stemmed from "collusion" among the government, regulators and the plant operator, the panel added. The panel also criticised the response of Fukushima Daiichi plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co, regulators, and then-prime minister Naoto Kan. Kan quit last year after criticism of his handling of the crisis. All Japan's nuclear reactors were shut down pending investigations into the accident. But three weeks ago the Oi plant in the west reopened and another reopened this week. Ailleen Mioko Smith, a leading Japanese nuclear monitor in Tokyo, says it's too soon and it's dangerous to be opening plants.
