"This is bad. This is bad."<br/> <br />That's what operators at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant said after the facility was hammered by an earthquake and tsunami last year.<br/> <br />Three of the plant's reactors would soon suffer a meltdown - triggering the biggest nuclear disaster in Japanese history.<br/> <br />Now the company that owned the plant - Tepco - says all that could have been prevented.<br/> <br />A new internal report reveals the company didn't do enough to protect the plant from tsunami threats and that it botched efforts to prevent the meltdown.<br/> <br />It marked a stunning reversal by Tepco, which for months had said the disaster was unavoidable.<br/> <br />Dale Klein, former head America's nuclear watchdog, oversaw the report.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER HEAD OF U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION AND CHAIRMAN OF TEPCO'S INTERNAL NUCLEAR REFORM PANEL, DALE KLEIN, SAYING:<br/> <br />"The first stage is denial, the second stage is probably blame others. I think it just took a while for it to really soak in that they understand they blew it."<br/> <br />The meltdown forced 150,000 people to flee the area - and left Tepco with so much debt, it had to be nationalized.
