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. Continue reading →

November 16, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Running Oi nuclear reactor on an earthquake fault? – a silly decision

Under government guidelines atomic installations cannot be sited on a fault – the meeting place of two or more of the plates that make up the earth’s crust – if it is still classed as active, that is, one that is known to have moved within the last 130,000 years.

Mr Watanabe said a heavy burden rests on those tasked with ensuring public safety, citing the jail sentences imposed on six seismologists in Italy after a court said their underestimation of the possible effects of an earthquake had contributed to the death toll in the central city of L’Aquila.

‘Silly’ to run Japanese nuclear plant on fault line, Herald Sun, AFP November 11, 2012 JAPAN’S only working nuclear power plant sits on what may be a seismic fault in the earth’s crust, a geologist has warned.

Mitsuhisa Watanabe says the earth’s plates could move under the Oi nuclear plant in western Japan, causing a catastrophe to rival last year’s atomic disaster at Fukushima – although some of his colleagues on a nuclear advisory panel disagree. Continue reading →

November 12, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Earthquake fault under Oi nuclear reactor is definitely active

Gov’t Nuclear Expert: Immediately halt Japan’s only 2 operating reactors — “It’s certain there’s an active fault” http://enenews.com/govt-nuclear-expert-immediately-halt-japans-only-two-operating-reactors-its-certain-there-is-an-active-fault
  November 4th, 2012
Title: Panel at odds over fault at Oi nuke plant   Source: Kyodo Date: Nov. 5, 2012

A fault running under the Oi nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture is definitely active, an expert on a Nuclear Regulation Authority panel investigating the compound’s safety said Sunday, as other members continued to debate the potential danger.

Toyo University professor Mitsuhisa Watanabe is calling for the immediate halt of two reactors at the plant, the only nuclear facility reactivated since the Fukushima disaster last year, arguing evidence points to an active fault.

“It’s certain there is an active fault. Operations should be stopped and another investigation should be conducted” at the Oi plant, Watanabe said. […]

Watch: AP: Japan’s only operating nuclear power plant may be closed (VIDEO)

November 6, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Active fault under Oi nuclear power plant – restart decision is postponed

Decision on fault under Oi nuclear plant deferred http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T121104002958.htm Jiji Press, 5 Nov 12Nuclear regulators deferred a decision Sunday as to whether an active fault runs under Kansai Electric Power Co.’s Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture.

Outside experts who participated in the Nuclear Regulation Authority’s on-site inspection of the plant Friday were divided in their evaluations of whether a crush zone underneath the plant is an active fault. The authority decided to hold another meeting Wednesday.

Mitsuhisa Watanabe, a professor at Toyo University, said he was certain there is an active fault under the Oi plant. But Norio Shigematsu, a research scientist at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, and Atsumasa Okada, a professor at Ritsumeikan University, said it would be premature to draw a conclusion and called for further surveys.

If the authority determines the crush zone is an active fault, the Oi plant’s No. 3 and No. 4 reactors, currently the only active reactors in Japan, would face a possible shutdown.

The crush zone runs directly under a seawater intake channel to cool the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors in the event of emergencies. If the crush zone moves in an earthquake, the emergency system could become unavailable. In an interim report to the government, Kansai Electric said there are no data suggesting the crush zone is an active fault.

The reactors were brought back online in July. The rest of the country’s 50 reactors remain idled in the wake of the accident at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

November 5, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Japan might shut down its only operating nuclear reactor

AP: Japan’s only operating nuclear power plant may be closed   http://enenews.com/ap-japans-only-operating-nuclear-reactor-may-be-closed November 2nd, 2012
NHK, Nov. 2: Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority ha surveyed the country’s only operating nuclear power plant to determine whether a seam under the facility is an active fault. The authority says it may ask the Ohi plant’s operator — Kansai Electric Power Company — to suspend operations, depending on the survey results.

November 3, 2012 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, safety | Leave a comment