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Page added on July 23, 2012
Japan to probe ‘active faults’ under nuclear plants
Japan’s nuclear safety watchdog on Wednesday ordered a probe into claims the country’s only working nuclear power station sits on an active tectonic fault.
The order came as Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCO) readied to refire a second reactor at the Oi plant, western Japan, just weeks after the first unit was restarted, ending a brief nuclear-free period in earthquake-prone Japan.
A spokesman for the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said KEPCO had to re-examine the Earth’s crust underneath Oi, while the operator of the Shika plant in nearby Ishikawa also had to carry out further studies.
The decision came after geological experts argued both plants are likely sitting on active faults and could be vulnerable to earthquakes if tectonic plates shift.
Japan’s entire stable of nuclear reactors was shut down in the months after the disaster at Fukushima when an earthquake-sparked tsunami knocked out cooling systems causing meltdowns that spread radiation over a large area.
A parliamentary report earlier this month called for further research into the effect on the reactors of the earthquake itself, adding it was not possible to say for certain the tsunami was the sole cause of damage at Fukushima.
Despite widespread public fears over the safety of nuclear power, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda in June ordered the restarting of reactors at Oi amid fears of a summer power crunch.
Unit No. 3 was back up at full operating power by mid-July and KEPCO said its plans to re-fire Unit No. 4 on Wednesday would not be affected by the probe order.
“The company from its evaluations believes the fault has not been active for between 120,000 and 130,000 years,” a spokesman said.
“Now the company has received the order to reinvestigate the matter and swiftly report, we will comply fully with this order,” he said.
A statement from Hokuriku Electric Power Co, the operator of the Shika plant, said the company would fully comply with the order to conduct a survey and would report its findings to the safety agency.
4 Comments on "Japan to probe ‘active faults’ under nuclear plants"
Kenz300 on Mon, 23rd Jul 2012 1:40 pm
Can the regulators and the nuclear companies in Japan be trusted to put safety and the environment ahead of profits?
DMyers on Mon, 23rd Jul 2012 4:04 pm
kenz,
Sometimes, safety and the environment must take second place to larger goals, such as population control. A good nuclear incident can go a long way toward reducing the population, maybe not as quickly as some would prefer, but in due course, cancer will take down a lot of folks who might otherwise be starving obnoxiously while you’re trying to eat dinner.
They’ve agreed to comply with the order. What more can you ask? They’re going to survey the Earth’s crust and let us know what they find. If there’s an active tectonic fault, they will no doubt bring in the necessary concrete and I-beams to lock it in place. If their previous assessment was correct, 120K to 130K years inactive, then, hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I’ve always found that if something is inactive for that long, it’s either dead or in a permanent coma.
If these companies make a profit by helping control the population and mending tectonic faults, where possible, I’d say it’s money well earned.
BillT on Mon, 23rd Jul 2012 4:40 pm
You don’t want to know how many in the US are also sitting on faults or near one. Or are leaking radiation. Or have many tons of spent fuel rods in above ground pools waiting for a catastrophe. And ALL by GE.
DC on Mon, 23rd Jul 2012 8:16 pm
I really wonder what they expect to accomplish here. All Japan sits on the RoF. If they find a fault, what can they do? Nothing really. Quakes are going to happen, the very best we can do is prepare for there consequences, nothing more. With huge effort and a little luck, ok maybe a lot, we can mitigate the negative effects, maybe, but thats all. Of course, the best thing to do would be to decommission all the nukes while Japan still has the means to do so. If they wait till they cant, then it wont matter because the Islands will be uninhabitable for 100,000s of years, along with all of Korea and substantial chunk of Chinas Eastern coastal areas as well.