CATASTROPHIC meltdowns of reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant had less to do with the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on 11 March last year, and more to do with the plant owners’ and government’s failure to anticipate and prepare for emergencies on such an epic scale.

That’s according to a report by an independent panel commissioned by the Japanese government. Released on Monday, the report is the latest of several to surface, and accuses the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency of failing to tell the media that the plant’s fuel rods had possibly melted, even though it knew this was likely.

Meanwhile, the removal of the rods from a storage pool at the facility started last week. Images aired on TV showed cranes lifting two of the 1535 fuel units from the No 4 reactor building. This was the first stage of a programme to remove unused and used fuel from the reactor to counter the risk of further radiation leakage. The process could take years.