The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency in 2006 and 2008 received briefings from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on its contingency guideline for handling nuclear plants in case of a terrorist attack, which may have included detailed procedures to lower reactor pressure to avoid explosions, an agency official said Friday.
Agency officials visited the NRC for the briefings, but the U.S. side barred them from taking notes or speaking of the content with outsiders — even the utilities running nuclear power plants — and did not give them any written material, said Tatsuya Taguchi of NISA's safety technology department.
The Asahi Shimbun first reported Friday that the NRC provided the contingency briefings. If NISA had passed the information on to Tokyo Electric Power Co. and other utilities, Tepco may have been better prepared for the power loss at Fukushima No. 1, the Asahi said.