Fukushima proves that all nuclear reactors are inherently unsafe and poorly secured

Before the Fukushima nuclear accident, Japan's nuclear and industrial safety agency was ineffective and not very independent from the government or actors of the energy industry. These officials were unable to impose the simple improvements that the operator, Tepco, would have needed to avoid the disaster. This situation cannot be extrapolated to other countries that operate nuclear power plants.

Before the Fukushima accident, the Japanese safety agency, which was part of the country's Ministry of Economy, was not sufficiently independent from operators, and did not impose strict enough requirements on them. One of the first measures taken after the accident was to create a nuclear safety authority independent of the government, the Nuclear Regulation Authority, with the power to set requirements, shut down reactors, and authorize their restart. [1]

The agency at the time did not dictate a protective dike height to the operator, Tepco, that was consistent with the historical earthquakes and tsunamis in the Fukushima area (the site's tsunami wall was 5.7 m high whereas the March 2011 tsunami was 14 m high). [1]

Official reports and academic studies have revealed that Tepco and its supervisory authorities ignored five warnings about the risks of a tsunami at the Fukushima Daiichi plant between the year 2000 and the time of the accident. [1]

Moreover, the devices that would have made it possible to limit radioactive discharges in the event of an accident in the reactor building, and present at that time in most Western and Chinese reactors, were not required either, nor were the quite simple systems that could have prevented the hydrogen explosions that were observed and the consequent release of radioactive elements into the atmosphere.

Today, all relevant reactors around the world are equipped with these types of devices, with adaptations suited to each type of reactor. French reactors have been equipped with passive autocatalytic recombiners since 2007.