Expert warned back in 2007 of nuclear threat

A LEADING Japanese seismologist warned the country was in danger of a major “nuclear catastrophe” four years ago, but resigned from an advisory panel after his concerns were ignored.

Kobe University professor Ishibashi Katsuhiko told the Asian state’s government in 2007 Japan faced a nuclear disaster on a par with Chernobyl because energy plants were based in known earthquake zones.

The expert insisted safety plans for Japan’s 55 nuclear reactors on 17 sites, drawn up in 2006, would prove useless in the event of a scenario like the one it currently faces.