Reply #5: Don, I posted this artricle on the weekend

[robdogbucky]

Dr. Moret tried to warn Japan in 2004 that they were playing nuclear Russian Roulette:

Sunday, May 23, 2004

Japan's deadly game of nuclear roulette

By LEUREN MORET
Special to The Japan Times

"...In 1998, Kei Sugaoka, 51, a Japanese-American senior field engineer who worked for General Electric in the United States from 1980 until being dismissed in 1998 for whistle-blowing there, alerted Japanese nuclear regulators to a 1989 reactor inspection problem he claimed had been withheld by GE from their customer, Tokyo Electric Power Company. This led to nuclear-plant shutdowns and reforms of Japan's power industry.

Later it was revealed from GE documents that they had in fact informed TEPCO -- but that company did not notify government regulators of the hazards.

Yoichi Kikuchi, a Japanese nuclear engineer who also became a whistle-blower, has told me personally of many safety problems at Japan's nuclear power plants, such as cracks in pipes in the cooling system from vibrations in the reactor. He said the electric companies are "gambling in a dangerous game to increase profits and decrease government oversight."

Sugaoka agreed, saying, "The scariest thing, on top of all the other problems, is that all nuclear power plants are aging, causing a deterioration of piping and joints which are always exposed to strong radiation and heat."

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20040523x2.html