U.S.A. - Experts on Fukushima: It Can't Happen Here

A new analysis of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant meltdown caused by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami a year ago puts some of the blame on human error and regulatory oversight, but paints an optimistic picture of the safety of America's nuclear power plants.

The report, issued by the American Nuclear Society's special committee on Fukushima, says that the meltdown was caused by a "catastrophe of monumental, unanticipated proportions," but says the Japanese response is a "complex story of mismanagement, culture, and sometimes even simple errors in translation."

"Given the backdrop of the situation, mistakes related to Fukushima Daiichi certainly should have been expected," it says. "However, there were serious problems with accident management and with risk communication and crisis communication that need to be examined."

In a New York Times op-ed published Friday, James Acton and Mark Hibbs, senior associates in the nuclear policy program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, similarly condemned the Japanese response.

"The potential risks of tsunamis to nuclear power plants are well understood and a set of international standards has been developed to mitigate those risks," they wrote. "Despite Japan's history of tsunamis … Japan's nuclear regulator did not apply those standards."

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