Engineering measures that might have prevented the calamity were not carried out, tests of safety equipment delayed.

ECONOMIST: American politics and business

They were a tiny group of civil servants, far more fascinated by the precise details (weights, measures, sizes, costs) of the engineering feat they were attempting than the human courage that the project required.

ECONOMIST: The Fastnet Lighthouse: Light on a lonely rock | The

Williams engineering director Patrick Head says he is optimistic that the measures can "provide a technical challenge for engineers and a competitive challenge for the mechanics as well as for the drivers of the cars".

BBC: The battle to save Formula One

Such technical difficulties shouldn't prevent Tepco from taking measures to make sure the equipment at Fukushima Daiichi is working, said Tadashi Narabayashi, a nuclear-engineering professor at Hokkaido University.

WSJ: Leaks Rouse Fears at Japanese Nuclear Plant