The government of Japan says conflicts between government agencies, not just TEPCo, delayed the raising of the nuclear crisis to the highest level of 7.

‘‘The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency and the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan said they could not vouch for the certainty of their estimates, so I told them to make a thorough, reliable analysis as soon as possible.’’-Edano Yukio, Chief Cabinet Secretary

The Fukushima Daiichi disaster would have been raised to level 7 on 23 March.  It turns out that not only was Tokyo Electric Power Company’s data faulty, but two government agencies had limited their radiation readings to just three locations.  On top of that they weren’t even sure their data was correct.  This is what the Japanese taxpayers pay for?

Several times the IAEA, and Greenpeace, said radiation readings at many sites, were too high, and evacuation zones should be expanded.  At one point a Japanese official said the data from Greenpeace would not be considered because Greenpeace was not a reliable source.

Chief Cabinet Secretary, Edano Yukio, indicated that Japan’s current safety standards are not the problem. It’s the enforcement, and lack of implementation of the standards that is the problem.