I think it's time someone heralded the efforts of the Japanese people, especially the workers trying to contain the damage at the plants.
They are confronted with a situation no one has even remotely experienced. A massive earthquake, a tsunami of epic proportions and damage to nuclear plants and the subsequent explosions and leaking of radioactive material into the ground, air and water.
Add to this the loss of thousands of lives, the search for the survivors, and the effort to rebuild the damaged infrastructure.
These reactors were scheduled to be decommissioned in February. Instead they were given another ten years.*
That the reactions and pronouncements by the Japanese government were less than perfect, is in some ways understandable and predictable. They were and are dealing with a situation in which they were getting information from the plant operators, who were themselves operating in un-chartered waters. Add to this the volatility of the situation and the potential for widespread fear and panic and the opportunity for second guessing and criticism was too easy for some to pass up.
Shortly after the tsunami damaged the plant, the head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the U.S. said that the core was at least partially melted and that the Japanese government wasn't revealing the real facts. As far as we know these were over-stated pronouncements. Did the Japanese level the same kind of criticism at our government after the Katrina hurricane? If our representatives are going to snipe at them then they better be right.
You would think that the Japanese response was totally abysmal. I think that their Prime Minister was making a credible effort to tell what he knew, and at the same time to prevent panic. I think that any responsible government leader would do the same.
The fifty plus plant workers who worked tirelessly to contain the damage and avert a much worse catastrophe are heroes of the first order. They are men, many of them lost families and friends in the earthquake and tsunami. They knew that their continued work put them at great peril and they persisted under incredibly difficult circumstances and living conditions. Our hats are off to them, our hearts reach out to them and our hands extend help to them.
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_I_Nuclear_Power_Plant