'..the development of nuclear power..' - '..knowledge on earthquakes and tsunamis were ignored.'

Context: '..a Japanese geologist warned that a disaster was imminent—to no avail'


<blockquote>'TEPCO still seems to be living from hand to mouth," says nuclear critic Mycle Schneider, winner of the Right Livelihood Award, widely known as the Alternative Nobel Prize. "There is nothing systematic about their approach." But this also comes as little surprise, given that TEPCO's disaster plan is a catastrophe in itself. One need look no further than sentences stemming from the company like this one: "The probability that a serious accident will happen is so small from an engineering standpoint that it is practically inconceivable.'

- Der Spiegel, 'We Need Every Piece of Wisdom We Can Get', 04/05/2011</blockquote>


<blockquote>'The media says that TEPCO had become entrenched on nuclear power. But that's not true. Initially the state was the driving force behind the introduction and expansion of nuclear power. When the power plants were built, many of the safety regulations were not clear enough. And the state, set on the development of nuclear power, laid them out in favor of the nuclear industry.

I know that new geo-scientific knowledge on earthquakes and tsunamis were ignored. In 2009, a research institute warned of the consequences of a disaster of equal magnitude to what has happened now...

...

The nuclear department at TEPCO is already a very special group, forming a closed world. Some call it the "atomic village" -- a separate company within a company. On the practical level, there is almost no exchange between the "atomic village" and other TEPCO departments.

This closed village has until now been allowed to hide data and test reports from nuclear power plants; to falsify and invent. For that reason, the president and the vice director resigned in 2002. The new head of TEPCO tried to open up the "atomic village" through transfers and restructuring, but everything is basically just the same.

The disaster in Fukushima must lead to TEPCO being cleaned up. Otherwise the company cannot survive.'

- Der Spiegel, TEPCO Worker on Control Failures and the Culture of Silence 04/05/2011</blockquote>