nuclear-news

Tsuruga nuclear plant not safe to restart: how many others are the same?

EDITORIAL: Why flirt with disaster? Decommission Tsuruga nuclear reactor Asahi Shimbun December 12, 2012 Breaking away from the “safety myth” that surrounded nuclear energy, the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) has changed the way Japan judges the safety of nuclear power plants.

The new industry watchdog said Dec. 10 there is a high possibility that a fault line running directly beneath a reactor at Japan Atomic Power Co.’s Tsuruga nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture is active. “Under the current circumstances, there is no way we can carry out the
safety assessments (that are required) for a restart (of the reactor),” NRA Chairman Shunichi Tanaka said.

This signals a major turning point in the nation’s nuclear regulation administration.

The focus was whether the active Urasoko fault, which runs about 200
meters east of the reactor, could affect the building that houses the
reactor.

Five experts said they clearly recognized that the fault situated
directly beneath the No. 2 reactor building is linked to the active
Urasoko fault and could move in tandem with it.

“The very fact that the active fault is running beneath the compound
of a nuclear power plant is abnormal in itself,” said one of the
experts.The (possible) influences from the Urasoko fault are
immeasurable,” said another.

Their warnings expressed in a meeting show the high level of danger in
the current situation at the Tsuruga nuclear power plant.

According to government guidelines, key facilities of nuclear power
plants must not be constructed on active faults. If the No. 2 reactor
cannot be operated, its decommissioning is inevitable……
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/views/editorial/AJ201212120026

December 13, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, safety