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Many nuclear plants in earthquake zones: scientists underestimated risks

scientists sometimes have underestimated how powerful quakes can be. The temblor that struck Japan was more than 10 times bigger than the Daiichi plant had been tested to withstand. In 2007, the world’s biggest nuclear plant, Japan’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, was damaged after it was hit by a quake far stronger than its designers anticipated.

Dozens of Reactors in Quake Zones,  WSJ.com, 18 March 11, Japan, Taiwan Account for Most Sites in High-Activity Areas; ‘Large Margins of Safety’ Factored In at U.S. Plants  By MAURICE TAMMAN, BEN CASSELMAN and PAUL MOZUR Dozens of nuclear reactors operate in earthquake-prone regions around the world, including at least 14 in high-hazard areas, a Wall Street Journal analysis shows.

Most of those plants are in just two places: Japan and Taiwan, both islands with limited natural resources that have chosen the risks of nuclear calamity over complete dependence on foreign sources of energy.

Both are now being forced to re-evaluate that calculation amid Japan’s unfolding nuclear crisis. A poll in Taiwan taken Monday—four days after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Japan triggered massive devastation and deadly tsunamis—showed that 55% of respondents lacked confidence in the island’s nuclear facilities.

The Wall Street Journal looked at the location of more than 400 nuclear reactors across the world—as well as another 100 that are either planned or being built—using data provided by the World Nuclear Association, a London-based industry group. The Journal then used data from the Global Seismic Hazard Program, a 1999 study by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Swiss Seismological Service, to determine the earthquake risk at each plant……..

scientists sometimes have underestimated how powerful quakes can be. The temblor that struck Japan was more than 10 times bigger than the Daiichi plant had been tested to withstand. In 2007, the world’s biggest nuclear plant, Japan’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, was damaged after it was hit by a quake far stronger than its designers anticipated.

Dozens of Reactors in Quake Zones – WSJ.com

March 19, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, safety