Although the injection helped cool the damaged reactor, the Japanese government has recently taken Tokyo Electric Power Co. to task for reporting that it paused seawater injection into unit 1 at Fukushima Daiichi when in fact it had not.
Information on the status of Fukushima's reactors has been dificult to parse throughout the crisis at the plant triggered by a magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami March 11. Some confusion was likely inevitable given the rapid chain of events following the station blackout, limited access to reactor instruments because of high radiation and conflicting reports coming from TEPCO, the Japanese government and U.S. nuclear experts. But Japanese officials have also accused TEPCO in several instances of releasing innacurate and potentially misleading information about the status of the plant.
The latest controversy involves an earlier report made by TEPCO that it suspended critical seawater injections into the reactor core of unit 1 for 55 minutes on the evening of March 12 after being directed to do so by the prime minister's office. On Thursday TEPCO reversed course, saying plant operators had, in fact, continued the injection.
The reversal has created an outcry among Japanese politicians and regulators because a government-ordered suspension of water injection in the early hours of the crisis would shift some of the blame for core damage in the reactor to Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
He and his government have strongly denied ordering the utility to suspend the operation. Kyodo News quoted Industry Minister Banri Kaieda as saying ‘‘I will check why a false report was made to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency,’’ and a NISA spokesman said the agency needs to consider whether TEPCO reported the incorrect information about the injection intentionally.