nuclear-news

15 metre wall planned to protect Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear plant

Tepco to Build Wall for Nuclear Plant After Fukushima Disaster Bloomberg, By Tsuyoshi Inajima – Apr 21, 2011   Electric Power Co. will build a seawall to protect its biggest atomic power station from a tsunami like the one that knocked out its Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant, causing the worst nuclear crisis in 25 years.

Japan’s biggest power company, known as Tepco, plans to construct a wall to a height of 15 meters (50 feet) above sea level off the coast of its Kashiwazaki Kariwa plant northwest of Tokyo, spokeswoman Ai Tanaka said by phone. Three of seven reactors remain shut at the station after an earthquake in 2007 caused radiation leaks.

Tepco has been battling to contain radiation spewing from the Fukushima plant after a magnitude-9 quake on March 11 unleashed a tsunami that flooded the station, knocking out cooling systems. The company won’t get approval to start the remaining reactors at Kashiwazaki until it resolves the crisis at Fukushima, a local government official said on April 6.

Japan’s government last week raised the severity rating of the Fukushima crisis to the highest on an international scale, the same level as the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. The station, which has withstood hundreds of aftershocks, may release more contamination than Chernobyl before the crisis is contained, Tepco officials said. …..http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-22/tepco-to-build-wall-for-nuclear-plant-after-fukushima-disaster.html

April 22, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, safety