Tokyo Electric Power Co. failed to carry out scheduled inspections at Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant less than two weeks before the earthquake and tsunami struck, the power company told safety regulators.

The company said in a Feb. 28 report submitted to the Japanese nuclear safety agency that it did not inspect 33 pieces of equipment, including a motor and a backup power generator for Unit 1 at the plant. The report is also available on the company's website.

The backup power systems were crippled after the natural disaster, contributing to concerns of a nuclear meltdown.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, which has been criticized for close industry ties, gave the power company until the beginning of June to submit a corrective plan and said in its response that it did not believe there was an urgent safety risk.

Hidehiko Nishiyama, the agency's deputy director general, said today that he could not say whether the lack of inspections played any role in the ongoing crisis at Fukushima Daiichi. He also said he was unaware of correspondence between the agency and Tokyo Electric (Kevin Krolicki, Reuters, March 21). -- AP