Fukushima and Chernobyl: The Art of the Cover-up

corbettreport on Apr 26, 2011
The Fukushima and Chernobyl nuclear disasters are quite different from a technological point of view as there are considerable differences between the causes of the catastrophes in each case and, furthermore, the equipment at the two devastated nuclear power plants is different, says independent journalist James Corbett who is in Osaka right now.

What also divides the cases is that in the Soviet Union, after it became evident that information about the catastrophe in Chernobyl could not be hidden under a rug, the information about the liquidation of the aftermath of the disaster was absolutely open to the international community. The situation in Fukushima is the opposite: the Japanese authorities censor the information about what exactly is going on at the devastated nuclear facility and share it with only a limited number of organizations.

"The [Japanese] government has proven that it is not interested in giving free and open access to the [Fukushima] site or the information coming out of there," he said, adding that briefings on the situation "are only open to a selected group of Japanese media organizations -- and foreign media and independent journalists are being excluded from those meetings."