As the investigation into the failure modes of the Japanese nuclear reactors goes forward, uncomfortable information has emerged about the way regulatory requirements were circumvented. Among other things it appears that the containment vessel for number 4 reactor at Fukushima was deformed during manufacture. The vessel should have been scrapped, which might have led to the bankruptcy of its manufacturer, Babcock Hitachi, K.K. Unfortunately the management conspired to cover up the irregularity in manufacture, and Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry was disinclined to investigate the accusations of a cover-up. I'd really rather there wasn't any doubt about the integrity of a nuclear containment vessel.

Tokyo Electric, Kansai Electric Power Co., Chubu Electric Power Co., Tohoku Electric Power Co. and Hokuriku Electric Power Co. have all admitted falsifying safety records and failing to report accidents. Some couldn't be covered up - the fatal ones. Part of the problem is that such regulation as the nuclear industry in Japan is subject to is maintained by the Trade Ministry rather than an independent regulatory body. We have just seen in the United States how government supervision of potentially life-threatening operations can lead to inadequate controls and a cosy relationship between the regulators and the regulated.

When matter of such potential moment are freely swept under the carpet in the name of economic interests this brings into question the whole safety ethos of the nuclear industry. Nuclear power is safe, we are told, because of the intensive controls it is subject to. Sadly humans aren't, because they will lie, cheat and steal to support their own narrow economic interests. As long as regulators continue to rubber-stamp the reports they get from industry we remain under threat from technologies that are inadequately supervised. The issue here is that while we are dealing with events having a very low probability, the potential for damage is so large that there may actually be a measurable expectation of loss.

Alas it appears that the nuclear industry is no more prepared to cope with these calculations than the financial industry was. It's all very well for President Obama to say that nuclear energy is central to America's future. When are we going to get a regulatory environment that actually takes the risks into consideration