The Japanese government and the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) are reportedly under fire for refusing technical support offered by the U.S. in the initial stages of the nuclear power crisis in Fukushima.

The Yomiuri Shimbun daily cited a senior official of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan as saying that the government and TEPCO refused the U.S. offer to provide technical support in disassembling the power plant immediately after the earthquake and tsunami damaged the plant.

Yomiuri said that some ruling party and government officials believe that if the administration of Prime Minister Naoto Kan accepted U.S. assistance in the early stages, it could have avoided the current nuclear crisis.