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Black smoke rises from the damaged reactor number 3 at Fukushima. AP Photo/Tokyo Electric Power Co.

British government planned to play down Fukushima disaster

New emails reveal attempts by government departments to instigate a PR campaign just two days after the devastating earthquake and tsunami.

NEW DOCUMENTS HAVE revealed how British government officials approached nuclear energy companies to draw up a co-ordinated PR campaign to play down the Fukushima nuclear accident just two days after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan on 11 March.

The Guardian reports show how the departments of business and energy in the UK worked closely with multinational companies like EDF Energy, Areva and Westinghouse to ensure the accident did not derail plans for a new generation of nuclear power stations in  the UK.

Officials stressed the importance of preventing the incident from undermining those plans and public support for nuclear energy, according to the Guardian. In one email an official from the department of business warns: “We need to ensure the anti-nuclear chaps and chapesses (sic) do not gain ground on this. We need to occupy the territory and hold it.”

Read the emails on guardian.co.uk >

Read more from Rob Edwards on guardian.co.uk >

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5 Comments
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    Mute mart_n
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    Jan 15th 2013, 9:37 PM

    The wait for GTA 5 must have cracked her up.

    189
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    Mute brianoceros
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    Jan 15th 2013, 10:04 PM

    Born in 1990 & somehow becomes a senile 70 yr old.

    79
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    Mute Marina Reilly
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    Jan 15th 2013, 10:06 PM

    Missed the bit where it said she was born in 1990 did ya?

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    Mute Old Holborn
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    Jan 15th 2013, 10:06 PM

    What has a 22/3 year old woman and compulsory testing of over 70′s got in common to this story??

    38
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    Mute Jason O'Donoghue
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    Jan 15th 2013, 10:06 PM

    Didn’t see that! Just some nut job so…, probably on the crack.

    29
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    Mute Begrudgy
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    Jan 15th 2013, 10:07 PM

    Ah 70. Math wasn’t your best subject in school was it.

    14
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    Mute Peggy Flaherty
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    Jan 15th 2013, 10:08 PM

    Jason, I find your comment incredibly insulting. We people of a certain age have much to offer the community.

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    Mute Old Holborn
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    Jan 15th 2013, 10:10 PM

    Are you over 70 Jason?

    20
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    Mute Old Holborn
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    Jan 15th 2013, 10:14 PM

    Such as?

    10
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    Mute Marina Reilly
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    Jan 15th 2013, 10:15 PM

    Or maybe she has mental health issues or just felt like seizing the day!! Enough assumptions and stereotypes!

    36
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    Mute Jack Bowden
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    Jan 15th 2013, 10:15 PM

    Lighten up. I think he’s only messing. Don’t be extremely offended.

    29
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    Mute Marina Reilly
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    Jan 15th 2013, 10:17 PM

    Ah, troll. Everyone calm down and ignore Jason. Hopefully he’ll head back under his bridge

    25
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    Mute Barry Basstard
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    Jan 15th 2013, 10:30 PM

    Police are baffled as to what the loco motive for the crime was.

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    Mute Paul Martin
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    Jan 15th 2013, 9:55 PM

    Apparently a disgruntled employee who was suspended for bringing stock home without permission in the past

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    Mute John Carolan
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    Jan 15th 2013, 9:57 PM

    Nice try…

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    Mute Paul Martin
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    Jan 15th 2013, 10:00 PM

    Too subtle?

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    Mute John Carolan
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    Jan 15th 2013, 10:02 PM

    Maybe too subtle alright…see how many likes it gets!

    21
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    Mute anthony byrne
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    Jan 15th 2013, 9:49 PM

    She must have had no training !

    98
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    Mute Mike Clinton
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    Jan 15th 2013, 9:43 PM

    “Bing bong, Will the person who took the 18.12 to Stockholm please bring it back as the passengers and driver are looking for it”

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    Mute Dr.fury
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    Jan 15th 2013, 9:44 PM

    I heard she came from the wrong side of the tracks

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    Mute Shane Carroll
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    Jan 15th 2013, 10:26 PM

    Women drivers eh?

    68
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    Mute Dr.fury
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    Jan 15th 2013, 10:05 PM

    How did she escape the kitchen is what I’d like to know

    61
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    Mute John Hayes
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    Jan 15th 2013, 9:42 PM

    Maybe she’s just living out how she feels , off the rails ?

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    Mute Larry O'Doherty
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    Jan 15th 2013, 9:52 PM

    She’s gone off the rails…completely.

    60
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    Mute peter
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    Jan 15th 2013, 9:55 PM

    She left the immersion on!

    50
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    Mute Joe Moloney
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    Jan 15th 2013, 10:53 PM

    Don’t you just hate that…you work hard to build up your reputation and then throw it all away by crashing a train into a 3 storey building..

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    Mute Shane Carroll
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    Jan 15th 2013, 11:15 PM

    Hate when that happens!

    16
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    Mute Cornelius Crow
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    Jan 16th 2013, 12:18 AM

    Should hear my plane story

    15
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    Mute Liam Brady
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    Jan 15th 2013, 10:05 PM

    Probably just wanted a platform .

    45
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    Mute Michael Gargan
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    Jan 15th 2013, 11:38 PM

    [pedantic mode] Article sub title says no one was injured yet the woman that stole the carriage was seriously injured and flown to hospital?? Does she not count? ;)[/pedantic mode]

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    Mute James Cullen
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    Jan 15th 2013, 10:31 PM

    I bet it still ran on time

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    Mute James Patrick Smith
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    Jan 15th 2013, 11:56 PM

    She wanted to fast track her membership of the Swedish house Mafia

    17
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    Mute Stephen Barry
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    Jan 16th 2013, 7:57 AM

    Give her a break , who hasn’t slammed a train into a three storey building at some stage in there life

    16
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    Mute Billie Hetfield
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    Jan 16th 2013, 10:19 AM

    She should have used the brakes she had so she wouldn’t crash.

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    Mute Anne Fulton
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    Jan 15th 2013, 10:02 PM

    Midnight train to Georgia???

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    Mute FlopFlipU
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    Jan 15th 2013, 10:14 PM

    She was on the wrong gear

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    Mute Sarah
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    Jan 15th 2013, 11:45 PM

    Looks like the crash in coronation street !!

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    Mute neuromancer
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    Jan 15th 2013, 10:42 PM

    How do you not get injured physically?

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    Mute Shane Carroll
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    Jan 15th 2013, 10:46 PM

    Mentally

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    Mute neuromancer
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    Jan 15th 2013, 10:54 PM

    Mentally injured. Eh, okay.

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    Mute Shane Carroll
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    Jan 15th 2013, 11:05 PM

    Am….yes. Mental isint it?

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    Mute tax slave
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    Jan 16th 2013, 12:27 AM

    She needs a little bit more training
    That’s all

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    Mute Gary Fogarty
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    Jan 16th 2013, 3:36 AM

    Maybe the temptation of driving a train instead of cleaning it got the better of her so she decided to go for a short joyride.

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    Mute Louis CK
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    Jan 15th 2013, 11:57 PM

    This is straight-up off the AP wire.

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    Mute Louis CK
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    Jan 15th 2013, 11:58 PM

    Author, Karl Ritter.

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    Mute RobertOMaingain
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    Jan 16th 2013, 6:57 AM

    Maybe she had just watched Spiderman 2 and wanted to meet him in person

    1
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