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87 percent chance of big earthquake near Hamaoka nuclear plant

The possibility of an imminent magnitude 8-plus earthquake in the Tokai region near the Hamaoka plant was brought to the public’s attention by geologist Ishibashi Katsuhiko in the 1970s and a government report has estimated there is an 87 percent chance of such an earthquake within the next 30 years……

Japan activist warns another ‘nuclear quake’ looms | Reuters, 27 march 11,“ “……….except for the location -Hirose had predicted an imminent megaquake and nuclear accident at the Hamaoka plant 200 km southwest of Tokyo, not the Fukushima Daiichi plant 240 km northeast — the scenario depicted in his first book on nuclear power in 15 years has proved eerily prescient. 

.Japanese authorities evacuated workers on Sunday from a reactor building they were working in after high doses of radiation were detected at a crippled nuclear power plant.As Hirose watches what he believes is a bungled response by the government and Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) (9501.T), which runs the plant, his fears are as strong as ever that a repeat is set to hit on the other side of the Japanese capital.

“I think it will definitely occur soon,” he said, citing geological research on earthquake cycles suggesting that a massive quake may be imminent in the Tokai region near the Hamaoka plant.

“I’ve looked at the entire country, and there’s not a single reactor that’s safe.”

Japan, at the crossroads of four tectonic plates, is the site of one-fifth of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more. The massive magnitude-9.0 quake that struck northeast Japan two weeks ago left an estimated 27,000 dead or missing and was the world’s fourth largest since 1900.

The possibility of an imminent magnitude 8-plus earthquake in the Tokai region near the Hamaoka plant was brought to the public’s attention by geologist Ishibashi Katsuhiko in the 1970s and a government report has estimated there is an 87 percent chance of such an earthquake within the next 30 years……

“There’s been something wrong with Japanese media for the past 15 years,” he said.

“There used to be a time when newspaper reporters and TV would use people like me, let us have our say. I don’t know where they’ve gone. They’re not allowing the Japanese people to think.”

Now Hirose is back on TV and his book is in demand, selling out at Kinokuniya, one of the nation’s top book retailers, and Amazon’s Japan web site…….

 
Japan activist warns another ‘nuclear quake’ looms | Reuters

March 28, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, safety