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Black smoke rises from the damaged reactor number 3 at Fukushima. AP Photo/Tokyo Electric Power Co.
Fukushima
British government planned to play down Fukushima disaster
New emails reveal attempts by government departments to instigate a PR campaign just two days after the devastating earthquake and tsunami.
NEW DOCUMENTS HAVE revealed how British government officials approached nuclear energy companies to draw up a co-ordinated PR campaign to play down the Fukushima nuclear accident just two days after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan on 11 March.
The Guardian reports show how the departments of business and energy in the UK worked closely with multinational companies like EDF Energy, Areva and Westinghouse to ensure the accident did not derail plans for a new generation of nuclear power stations in the UK.
Officials stressed the importance of preventing the incident from undermining those plans and public support for nuclear energy, according to the Guardian. In one email an official from the department of business warns: “We need to ensure the anti-nuclear chaps and chapesses (sic) do not gain ground on this. We need to occupy the territory and hold it.”
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