Tokyo Electric Power Co. faced a six-hour barrage of heavy flak from shareholders Tuesday at their annual meeting, with management blasted over how it has handled the world's worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
Many investors demanded to know why Tepco failed to foresee the tsunami risk at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, which was knocked out by giant waves after the March 11 quake. Fuel rods have melted at three of the plant's reactors.
The quake and tsunami claimed more than 23,000 lives and devastated farms and ports along the Tohoku coast, and the radiation-spewing reactors have caused widespread evacuations.