Japan

Singapore banker arrested over Olympus accounting fraud

Topics: 
Japan, Corruption
Rating: 
2
The following are selected extracts

A. Ananthalakshmi and Erin Geiger Smith – December 21, 2012

A former Singapore banker was arrested in Los Angeles on Thursday and accused of helping "liquidate" hundreds of millions of dollars in an accounting fraud at Olympus Corp, one of the biggest corporate scandals in Japan's history.

Chan Ming Fon, a one-time bank vice president, is the latest former executive and the first from outside of Japan to become ensnared in the $1.7 billion accounting cover-up at the camera and medical equipment maker.

Michael Woodward on whistleblowing in Japan

Topics: 
Japan, Corruption, Whistleblowers
Rating: 
3
Michael Woodward

When Michael Woodford, the newly appointed CEO of Olympus Japan, received evidence of a massive accounting fraud, he tried to bring this to the attention of the board. He was immediately fired and fled the country, justifiably fearing for his life. He was subsequently able to expose the fraud through massive publicity in the Western media.

In these two television interviews he talks about his experience, as set out in his new book 'Exposure', and paints a bleak picture of the state of corporate governance in Japan, the entrenched corruption that exists and the consequent harm to the Japanese economy.

Fukushima whistleblower: 'We shouldn't have been there'

Topics: 
Japan, Nuclear industry, Workplace conditions, Whistleblowers
Rating: 
2

November 1, 2012

The operator of a Japanese nuclear plant that went into a tsunami-triggered meltdown knew the risks from highly radioactive water at the site but sent in crews without adequate protection or warnings, a worker said in a legal complaint.

The actions by Tokyo Electric Power Co. led to radiation injuries, said the contract worker, who was with a six-member team working at the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi plant's Unit 3 reactor in the early days of last year's crisis.

Japanese nuclear industry funded regulatory agency's safety experts

Topics: 
Japan, Nuclear industry, Conflict of interest, Regulatory oversight
Rating: 
2

Officials drafting new regulations raked in millions

November 4, 2012

Four of the six members on a government panel drafting new nuclear safety regulations each received between ¥3 million and over ¥27 million in payments, donations and grants from entities in the atomic energy industry in the last three to four years, the Nuclear Regulation Authority said.

But after disclosing the data Friday, the new nuclear watchdog's secretariat said all four members "were selected in line with regulations, and there should thus be no problem" over their appointment.

Fukushima workers 'told to lie'

Topics: 
Corruption, Nuclear industry, Japan
Rating: 
2

AFP – July 22, 2012

A subcontractor at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant told workers to lie about radiation exposure. An executive at construction firm Build-Up in December told about 10 of its workers to cover their dosimeters, used to measure cumulative radiation exposure, with lead casings when working in areas with high radiation, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper and other media said.

The action was apparently designed to under-report their exposure to allow the company to continue working at the site of the worst nuclear disaster in a generation, media reports said.

36 Percent Of Fukushima Children Have Abnormal Growths From Radiation

Topics: 
Nuclear industry, Public health & safety, Japan
Rating: 
2

Michael Kelley – July 16, 2012

Of more than 38,000 children tested from the Fukushima Prefecture in Japan, 36 percent have abnormal growths – cysts or nodules – on their thyroids a year after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, as reported by ENENews.

The shocking numbers come from the thyroid examination section of the "Sixth Report of Fukushima Prefecture Health Management Survey," published by Fukushima Radioactive Contamination Symptoms Research (FRCSR) and translated by the blog Fukushima Voice. 

Fukushima workers 'told to lie' about radiation

Topics: 
Japan, Nuclear industry, Workplace conditions
Rating: 
0
July 22, 2012

An executive at construction firm Build-Up in December told about 10 of its workers to cover their dosimeters, used to measure cumulative radiation exposure, with lead casings when working in areas with high radiation, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper and other media said.

The action was apparently designed to under-report their exposure to allow the company to continue working at the site of the worst nuclear disaster in a generation, media reports said.

36 Percent Of Fukushima Children Have Abnormal Growths From Radiation Exposure

Topics: 
Japan, Nuclear industry, Public health & safety
Rating: 
0

Michael Kelley – July 16, 2012

Of more than 38,000 children tested from the Fukushima Prefecture in Japan, 36 percent have abnormal growths – cysts or nodules – on their thyroids a year after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, as reported by ENENews.

The shocking numbers come from the thyroid examination section of the "Sixth Report of Fukushima Prefecture Health Management Survey," published by Fukushima Radioactive Contamination Symptoms Research (FRCSR) and translated by the blog Fukushima Voice. 

Fukushima Reactor 4 poses massive global risk

Topics: 
USA, Nuclear industry, Regulatory oversight, Public health & safety, Japan
Rating: 
0

Andy Johnson – May 19, 2012

More than a year after a devastating earthquake and tsunami triggered a massive nuclear disaster, experts are warning that Japan isn't out of the woods yet and the worst nuclear storm the world has ever seen could be just one earthquake away from reality.

The troubled Reactor 4 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is at the centre of this potential catastrophe. Reactor 4 -- and to a lesser extent Reactor 3 -- still hold large quantities of cooling waters surrounding spent nuclear fuel, all bound by a fragile concrete pool located 30 metres above the ground, and exposed to the elements.

Fukushima a Ticking Time-Bomb: experts

Topics: 
USA, Nuclear industry, Regulatory oversight, Public health & safety, Japan
Rating: 
2

Experts say acknowledging the threat would call into question the safety of dozens of identically designed nuclear power plants in the U.S.

Brad Jacobson – May 4, 2012

More than a year after the triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, the Japanese government, Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) present similar assurances of the site's current state: challenges remain but everything is under control. The worst is over.

But nuclear waste experts say the Japanese are literally playing with fire in the way nuclear spent fuel continues to be stored onsite, especially in reactor 4, which contains the most irradiated fuel -- 10 times the deadly cesium-137 released during the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident. These experts also charge that the NRC is letting this threat fester because acknowledging it would call into question safety at dozens of identically designed nuclear power plants around the U.S., which contain exceedingly higher volumes of spent fuel in similar elevated pools outside of reinforced containment.

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