nuclear-news

Earthquake study in Japan may bring all its nuclear reactors to a close

 seismic experts in the pay of the nuclear power industry have drawn severe criticism for playing down the risk of massive quakes and tsunami before the catastrophic breakdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant.

The expert panel’s judgment on the Oi plant is likely to have a significant impact on the fate of many other nuclear plants and probably the future of national energy policy as well

Fault study at Oi nuke plant may impact all offline reactors Noted geologist worries warning signs will continue to go unheeded Japan Times, By REIJI YOSHIDA. 15 Nov 12 Toyo University professor Mitsuhisa Watanabe, a polemicist on active faults, has fought a long losing battle against Japan’s nuclear industrial complex. His research, ringing the alarm bell about active faults under and near nuclear power plants, has always fallen on deaf ears.

According to Watanabe, nuclear regulators and power companies have a long history of willfully underestimating the danger posed by active faults near a number of reactors.

But now the Fukushima nuclear crisis may have finally changed the rules of the game.

Watanabe, thanks to recommendations from academic societies, now sits
on the five-member expert panel investigating possible active faults
beneath the Oi nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture.

Watanabe is leading the discussions at the panel, which may determine
the Oi plant’s fate. He has maintained that a potentially dangerous
active fault runs directly beneath critical equipment for units 3 and
4, the only two commercial reactors in Japan currently operating. He
has called for their immediate shutdown until thorough geological
surveys can be conducted.”Active faults run parallel in many cases. If
you determine one fault is active, the possibility becomes higher that
nearby parallel faults may also be active,” Watanabe told The Japan
Times during a recent interview. “You need to stop the reactors to
conduct thorough surveys to check all of them first.”

All of the other members of the expert panel have admitted that the
fault, named F-6, could be active and pose a serious danger.

Watanabe believes this is good enough reason for the government to
order a temporary shutdown and conduct exhaustive geological surveys.

“If you can’t deny the possibility that it may be an active fault, we
should not ignore the risk. The plant should first be suspended.”

Watanabe also pointed out that seismic experts in the pay of the nuclear power industry have drawn severe criticism for playing down the risk of massive quakes and tsunami before the catastrophic breakdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant.

“We should not repeat the same mistake that was made in Fukushima,” he said.

The expert panel’s judgment on the Oi plant is likely to have a significant impact on the fate of many other nuclear plants and probably the future of national energy policy as well…….
The NRA will request Kansai Electric Power Co. to stop the reactors at
Oi if the F-6 fault is determined to be, or is strongly suspected of
being, active, Tanaka said.

The brand-new agency has launched geological investigations into six
nuclear plants where suspicion is high that they may have active
faults within their fences.

The Oi plant is the first to be examined by the experts. The other
five are Fukui’s Tsuruga and Mihama power plants, the Shiga plant in
Ishikawa Prefecture, the Higashidori plant in Amori Prefecture and the
Monju experimental fast-breeder reactor, also in Fukui.

Following a survey Nov. 2 at the Oi plant, which included digging
trenches, the NRA plans to conduct a similar study at the Tsuruga
plant Dec. 1 and at the Higashidori facility before the end of the
year.

The Oi case has also drawn particular attention because its reactors 3
and 4 are the only ones the government has managed to reactivate in
the face of the public’s rising opposition to nuclear energy.

For now the NRA expert panel’s focus is on whether the F-6 fault is
active…… http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20121116f1.html

November 16, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, safety