Do you get a feeling he's being made the fall guy for it?

Anyway, I'm reminded of this: The moment nuclear plant chief WEPT as Japanese finally admit that radiation leak is serious enough to kill people

After Tokyo Electric Power Company Managing Director Akio Komiri cried as he left a conference to brief journalists on the situation at Fukushima, a senior Japanese minister also admitted that the country was overwhelmed by the scale of the tsunami and nuclear crisis.

I seem to recall a video where some TEPCO executive was seen apologizing profusely and deeply bowing his head repeatedly as he did. I can't find it and I'm not sure if it was the same executive or a different one.

Other people who have apologised include the Vicepresident and Executive Vicepresident. But the President of TEPCO remains AWOL.

Economics is politics by other means

Also plausible, he was the one to make the final decision to release the water in order to prevent a worse outcome. It you were sent out to communicate someone else's decision you are not fully on board with, you'd be angry, not sad.

Also, the explanation he gives is technical. He must be familiar with the details of the plant at a level that "political" cadres of TEPCO likely wouldn't be.

Economics is politics by other means

But 5 & 6 are at a significant distance from 1-4 and were not considered seriously damaged, except for loss of emergency power. They were among the first put back on grid power as well, IIRCC. I had understood that their reactor cooling systems were intact and in use. Is it appropriate to call the water that is intruding "groundwater" if it is rising because it is leaking from the plants themselves but the water table is saturated? The lower levels of the plant were likely built below the usual level of the local water table, given the location, but was the aquifer significantly contaminated before the earthquake? I seriously doubt it was that bad and suspect that most of the radioactivity in the basement levels of 5 & 6 would have to come from leaks in the cooling water pipes that have no place to go but into water that is starting to seep into the basement from the aquifer via cracks in the concrete structure.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."