A veteran bureaucrat previously disciplined for butting heads with the government is at it again, saying in a new book that the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant was a "man-made" disaster.
A veteran bureaucrat previously disciplined for butting heads with the government is at it again, saying in a new book that the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant was a "man-made" disaster.
Shigeaki Koga, 55, a bureaucrat at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, blasted Prime Minister Naoto Kan's handling of the accident in the book "Nihon Chusu no Hokai" (Collapse of Japan's central administration).
Koga has worked for METI for more than 30 years. He was suspended from promotion track for more than a year after criticizing civil service reform proposals by the ruling Democratic Party of Japan. He is now attached to the minister's secretariat.
In his book, Koga asserts that "watchdogs and promoters of nuclear power plants live together under one roof," referring to the relationship between METI and its Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
He also criticized Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant, for hiring retired high-ranking METI officials, writing "even bureaucrats cannot control TEPCO."
That close relationship was part of the reason that initial reaction to the accident was slow and ineffective, Koga said.
As a member of the government task force on the promotion of civil service reform, Koga proposed to review the seniority-based personnel system of national government employees. This proposal was highly unpopular with fellow bureaucrats.
After serving on the task force, Koga was reinstated by METI in December 2009. He has served as an assistant to the minister's secretariat since.