As Hiroko Tabuchi reports in Friday's New York Times, the Tokyo Electric Power Company released video this week which was recorded during teleconferences last year in the first days of the crisis at the utility's nuclear plant at Fukushima.
The recordings offered the Japanese public new glimpses of how managers and engineers responded to the catastrophe that began on March 11, 2011 when the plant's reactors were crippled by an earthquake and tsunami.
After Tepco posted almost 89 minutes of video, showing parts of the crisis talks on March 12, 14 and 15, on its Web site, a video blogger who has created a YouTube archive of all the footage released by the company posted a copy on the video-sharing site.
The video excerpts posted online by Tepco show some of the discussions that took place between engineers at the plant and managers at the company's headquarters as the crisis worsened. More than an hour of the footage was released without sound, including a portion that shows Naoto Kan, the prime minister during the episode, visiting the company's crisis center.
According to a shot list posted on Tepco's Web site, the footage shows:
0:00:00 â€" 0:00:20
Sample of teleconference at headquarters (with sound)
0:00:20 â€" 0:00:35
Sample of teleconference at Fukushima Daini nuclear power station (no sound)
0:00:35 â€" 0:02:40
March 12, 3:36 p.m. Hydrogen explosion at Unit 1 Reactor Building (no sound)
0:02:40 â€" 0:05:50
March 12, 7:23 p.m. Seawater injection at Unit 1 (no sound)
0:05:50 â€" 0:10:31
March 14, 11:01 a.m. Hydrogen explosion at Unit 3 Reactor Building (with so und)
0:10:31 â€" 0:22:33
March 14, 4:12 p.m. Pressure reduction utilizing SR valve at Unit 2 (with sound)
0:22:33 â€" 0:24:36
March 14, 7:28 p.m. Withdrawal (1/3) Managing Director, Komori (with sound)
0:24:36 â€" 0:25:11
March 14, 7:54 p.m. Withdrawal (2/3) Fellow, Mr. Takahashi (with sound)
0:25:11 â€" 0:29:48
March 14, 8:15 p.m. Withdrawal (3/3) President, Shimizu and Fellow, Mr. Takahashi (with sound)
0:29:48 â€" 1:06:53
March 15, 5:36 a.m. Former Prime Minister Kan visiting Tepco (no sound)
1:06:53 â€" 1:28:58
March 15, 6:14 a.m. Impulsive sound and shake at Fukushima Daiichi NPS (no sound)
Among other things, the video shows that Tepco managers knew hours after the crisis began that multiple meltdowns were likely, even though they attempted to convince the public that such a catastrophic nuclear accident was not probable.
Responding to pressure to be more transparent about the efforts to cont ain the damage at the plant, Tepco now regularly posts photographs and video clips on the work there on a section of its Web site documenting the work at Fukushima.
This week, in addition to the teleconference video, the company posted a series of photographs online, shot inside the ruined building around Reactor No. 1 on Wednesday, after engineers released a balloon equipped with a camera into the badly damaged structure.
Last month, Tepco also posted a brief video clip recorded at Fukishima's Reactor No. 3 building on July 11.
