NHK Special - Japan's Nuclear CrisisIn this special documentary, NHK interviewed more than 200 people including government and TEPCO officials, experts, and engineers. While reluctant, they agreed to speak with NHK. Some of the rather candid comments confirm that TEPCO, nor the Japanese government where adequately prepared for a disaster of this magnitude. The Economy, Trade, and Industry Minister, Banri Kaieda even made a rather damning remark (around the 4m30s mark in clip 1-A) that he could not deny there was a myth of safety regarding the nuclear power plants and that probably somewhere in their minds, they always felt that measures against emergency situations were unnecessary because such situations would never occur. Officials severely underestimated the crisis at the power plant and were essentially complicit in their failure to act in a more decisive and urgent manner. Furthermore, the reported amounts and spread of radioactive fallout were also underestimated. Scientists are now beginning to understand how radioactive contamination spread after they were released from the power plant and the picture is not proving to be pretty. Further monitoring is uncovering radioactive hotspots throughout the Tokyo metropolitan area. This special documentary looks further into the growing impact of radiation from the Dai-ichi nuclear power plant by starting out from the areas adjacent to the crippled power plant, then out to a 100km (62 miles) radius, and then areas beyond where some of these hotspots have been found
