Masao Yoshida, the plant manager, has been heard by the Investigation
Committee on the Accident at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Stations (ICANPS) on
the plant’s management after the earthquake and the actions undertook to deal with
the accident. His account, made public in September 2014, is currently being edited
in French [2].
1 The testimony enables us not only to address the silence of the
reports, but to learn more about the factors affecting the decision-making and the
action-taking during “extreme situations” as well. During such a situation, the
actions taken by workers do not enable them to regain control of their production
tool, and are regarded as responsible of an impending and irreversible damage [3].
This article therefore intends to demonstrate the importance of the Masao
Yoshida first-hand account, and how its study contributes to the concept of
“engineering thinking in extreme situations”. In the first part of the article, some
accident investigation reports and there content are presented. In the second part,
correlations between the hearings of Yoshida and the narrative form are highlighted, and then, the significance of the manager’s disclosures for “engineering
thinking in extreme situations” is revealed.
2 The Accident Investigation Reports
The first part presents the four institutional reports used in this study and the bodies
that produced them. Then, it sums their content up, with an eye to analyse the
representation they make of the accident.
2.1 Description of the Institutional Report
Following the Fukushima accident, several bodies published reports about its
causes. These reports also point out the lessons that are to be learned to enhance
nuclear facilities safety. This paper discusses the reports issued by the Investigation
Committee on the Accident at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Stations [4–7]. These
documents have been written by two Japanese, an international and an American
organisation. Obviously, they were drafted with different purposes and present
different feedbacks and recommendations.
The Cabinet of Japan has decided to create The Investigation Committee on the
Accident at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Stations (ICANPS) on 24 may 2011. The
ten members (researchers, jurists…) are put under the direction of Yotaro Hatamura,
professor emeritus of the University of Tokyo. The aim of the Committee is to
1
The CRC—MINES ParisTech is publishing a French version of the entirety of the hearings of
Yoshida. The first volume which contains the auditions of 22 and 29 July 2011 is available since
March 2015. The auditions of 8 and 9 august are gathered in the second volume which was
published in March 2016. The following hearings are to be found in the third volume.
234
A. Afrouss
Committee on the Accident at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Stations (ICANPS) on
the plant’s management after the earthquake and the actions undertook to deal with
the accident. His account, made public in September 2014, is currently being edited
in French [2].
1 The testimony enables us not only to address the silence of the
reports, but to learn more about the factors affecting the decision-making and the
action-taking during “extreme situations” as well. During such a situation, the
actions taken by workers do not enable them to regain control of their production
tool, and are regarded as responsible of an impending and irreversible damage [3].
This article therefore intends to demonstrate the importance of the Masao
Yoshida first-hand account, and how its study contributes to the concept of
“engineering thinking in extreme situations”. In the first part of the article, some
accident investigation reports and there content are presented. In the second part,
correlations between the hearings of Yoshida and the narrative form are highlighted, and then, the significance of the manager’s disclosures for “engineering
thinking in extreme situations” is revealed.
2 The Accident Investigation Reports
The first part presents the four institutional reports used in this study and the bodies
that produced them. Then, it sums their content up, with an eye to analyse the
representation they make of the accident.
2.1 Description of the Institutional Report
Following the Fukushima accident, several bodies published reports about its
causes. These reports also point out the lessons that are to be learned to enhance
nuclear facilities safety. This paper discusses the reports issued by the Investigation
Committee on the Accident at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Stations [4–7]. These
documents have been written by two Japanese, an international and an American
organisation. Obviously, they were drafted with different purposes and present
different feedbacks and recommendations.
The Cabinet of Japan has decided to create The Investigation Committee on the
Accident at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Stations (ICANPS) on 24 may 2011. The
ten members (researchers, jurists…) are put under the direction of Yotaro Hatamura,
professor emeritus of the University of Tokyo. The aim of the Committee is to
1
The CRC—MINES ParisTech is publishing a French version of the entirety of the hearings of
Yoshida. The first volume which contains the auditions of 22 and 29 July 2011 is available since
March 2015. The auditions of 8 and 9 august are gathered in the second volume which was
published in March 2016. The following hearings are to be found in the third volume.
234
A. Afrouss