Fukushima governor seeks safety first
The governor of Fukushima Prefecture says Japan’s nuclear energy policy should place utmost priority on ensuring people’s safety and giving them a sense of security.
Masao Uchibori issued a statement in response to the restart on Tuesday of a nuclear plant in southwestern Japan, the first time in nearly 2 years for a nuclear facility in the country to come online. He said the government’s policy should reflect the lessons learned from the accident at the Daiichi plant in Fukushima.
He said his prefecture will continue pressing the government and Tokyo Electric Power Company to scrap all nuclear plants in Fukushima. TEPCO is the Daiichi plant’s operator.
Uchibori said the prefecture will also do its utmost to realize its basic principle for reconstruction — fostering a society that does not depend on nuclear power.
Former residents of Namie Town, which was designated a no-entry zone after the nuclear accident, expressed mixed emotions at the news of the restart of the Sendai plant.
An 83-year-old man was against the move, saying the suffering endured by the evacuees in Fukushima can never be understood by others.
A 44-year-old woman said the restart probably can’t be avoided. Even so, it gives her complicated feelings. She said she believes the normal order of business is to restart nuclear reactors only after confirming that all safety measures are in place — such as securing a final disposal site for spent nuclear fuel and designating evacuation routes in case of emergencies.
The woman said she wants the government to think more about protecting lives than profits, by looking at issues from the people’s perspective.
Source: NHK
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150811_20.html
Sendai nuclear plant restarted
A nuclear reactor has been restarted in Japan for the first time in nearly 2 years.
The No.1 reactor at the Sendai nuclear plant in southwestern Japan is the first to go back online under new regulations introduced after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident.
On Tuesday morning, workers at the plant’s central control room operated a lever to pull out the reactor’s 32 control rods. Plant operator Kyushu Electric Power Company says there’s been no trouble so far.
If all goes well, the reactor is due to achieve a sustained nuclear chain reaction in about 12-and-a-half hours and begin generating power on Friday. After gradually raising output, Kyushu Electric plans to begin commercial operations in early September.
The utility says it will watch carefully for any abnormalities in equipment operation, as the reactor has been kept offline for more than 4 years.
The 2-reactor Sendai plant in Kagoshima Prefecture last year cleared the new, rigorous regulations introduced after the 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. It completed all necessary inspections on Monday.
The reactor is the first to go online since September 2013, when the Ohi nuclear plant in central Japan halted operations.
Source: NHK
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150811_17.html
Efforts to improve nuclear plant evacuation roads – Protesters rally at Sendai nuclear power plant
Some residents near the nuclear power plant in Satsumasendai City in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, are questioning the feasibility of evacuation plans drawn up by local communities.
9 towns and cities within 30 kilometers of the plant have already drawn up evacuation plans for their residents. But some of the roads designated as evacuation routes have problems.
In Takae Town, a prefectural highway turns into a single-lane road with narrow sections where there are no sidewalks. Other sections are close to the mouth of a river and the sea and could be flooded in the event of tsunami.
An NHK survey shows that 6 of the 9 municipalities have acknowledged problems including traffic jams that might occur during evacuations.
The prefectural government of Kagoshima has started repair work such as widening roads and reinforcing embankments at 11 sections of such routes. However, the work is expected to take 7 to 8 years to complete.
Some municipal offices are improving forestry roads that can be used for evacuation. Officials say if a disaster causes traffic congestion, authorities may redirect people and vehicles to use forestry roads for evacuation.
Yuichi Kojima, a senior Kagoshima prefectural official, says the prefecture is giving top priority to improving evacuation routes and will also work with local municipalities to secure smooth evacuations.
Source: NHK
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150810_21.html
Protesters rally at Sendai nuclear power plant
Protesters are rallying outside the Sendai nuclear power plant in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan in a last-ditch effort to stop the restart of a nuclear reactor at the plant. The restart will be the first under new safety rules established after the 2011 Fukushima disaster.
About 200 activists from both in and out of the prefecture gathered in front of the plant early on Tuesday morning.
Using loudspeakers, they shouted “Don’t forget the nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi!” and “Do not restart the Sendai plant!”
Police officers and the plant’s guards are deployed around the protesters.
A 22-year-old student taking part in the rally said the plant’s restart is not an issue limited to Kagoshima, but also affects other areas.
He said he does not want the plant to be restarted under the current conditions. He said he is worried that the local emergency evacuation plan is inadequate, especially for old people.
Source: NHK
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150811_11.html
Reactor in Kagoshima poised for restart despite public opposition
SATSUMASENDAI, Kagoshima Pref. – Kyushu Electric Power Co. said Monday it will restart the No. 1 reactor at its Sendai nuclear plant on Tuesday, marking the country’s first long-term return to nuclear power since the Fukushima crisis.
The reactor, in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture, will be the first to go live under new safety standards that were put in place in 2013. The standards were drawn up after the meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant in March 2011.
The restart, strongly pushed by the pro-business administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, will deal a tough blow to anti-nuclear activists and citizens who have been calling for abolition of all nuclear power plants.
Advocates of the restart include the prefectural government as well as residents of Satsumasendai who appreciate the impact of nuclear-power related subsidies on public works projects and the effect the plant has on local service industries.
Meanwhile, the Abe Cabinet risks losing popularity among voters. A poll by the Mainichi Shimbun on Saturday and Sunday found that 57 percent of people are opposed to reactivating the Sendai plant, while 30 percent support it. The survey polled 1,015 respondents nationwide.
Abe has maintained that utility companies, not the central government, should decide whether to restart reactors if the Nuclear Regulation Authority declares them safe under new inspection standards.
But at the same time his administration has been promoting the reactivation of suspended commercial reactors, citing the huge cost of importing fossil fuels for thermal power plants.
Tuesday’s restart would come despite local worries that Kyushu Electric Power and local politicians and businesses have been pushing for it without addressing what would happen in the event of an emergency.
A protest rally in front of the plant Monday drew former Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who was in office at the time of the events of March 11, 2011.
With the exception of Kansai Electric Power Co.’s Oi No. 3 and 4 reactors in Fukui Prefecture, which were restarted in summer 2012 under the old safety measures and ran until early autumn 2013, all of Japan’s 43 remaining operable nuclear reactors have been shut down since the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, and subsequent meltdowns in Fukushima.
“Like Tepco and Fukushima at that time, Kyushu Electric will not take responsibility for evacuation in case of an emergency,” Kan told the rally. “Under current laws, neither Tepco nor Kyushu Electric have responsibility to ensure the safety of residents.”
Local governments hosting nuclear plants are required to draw up evacuation plans for those living within 30 km of the site.
But nuclear plants like Sendai are often located in isolated areas along a coast, where access roads are sometimes few and where many local residents are elderly and would require special care and assistance.
“The plans Kagoshima Prefecture has drawn up are unrealistic,” said Katsuhiro Inoue, a member of the Satsumasendai Municipal Assembly from the Japan Communist Party.
“They assume the main access road closest to the plant will be usable in the event of accident, and they don’t answer basic questions of how long it might take to move those who are elderly outside the 30-km radius of the plant, or what might happen to people who live more than 30 km away and try to evacuate,” Inoue said.
In May 2014, the prefecture calculated how long it would take to evacuate the nearly 215,000 people who live in Satsumasendai and nine other towns within 30 km of the plant.
In the best case scenario, officials estimated it would take almost 10 hours to evacuate 90 percent of the population.
In the worst case, the prefecture concluded, it could take almost 29 hours.
Source: Japan Times
Crucial emergency test begins at Sendai nuclear plant ahead of upcoming restart on August 10, 2015
An emergency drill to contain a severe accident like the Fukushima nuclear disaster started at the Sendai nuclear power plant on July 27, a final hurdle the operator must clear before a planned restart next month.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority, the nation’s nuclear watchdog, inspected the site to see if plant workers followed Kyushu Electric Power Co.’s revamped procedures for responding to a crisis. The steps were approved by the NRA in May.
The No. 1 reactor of the plant in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture, is expected to be the nation’s first to go back online under the new regulations set by the NRA for nuclear power plants after the 2011 Fukushima accident.
Kyushu Electric plans to restart the reactor as early as Aug. 10.
On the first day of the four-day drill, the exercise began at 10 a.m. under a scenario that the plant lost the ability to cool its No. 1 reactor due to the loss of power, just like the 2011 accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co.
The scenario also envisages that the nuclear fuel rods begin melting 19 minutes after the water level in the reactor began dropping.
During the drill, Kyushu Electric employees are expected to confirm steps to prevent a rupture of the reactor’s containment vessel to avert the release of a huge amount of radioactive materials into the atmosphere.
At the central control room, utility employees worked to secure power from large-scale, mobile power generators via remote control.
The backup devices were installed on the plant’s premises in line with the new regulations.
The employees also simulated the operation of equipment that lowers the concentration of hydrogen in the containment vessel to reduce the possibility of a hydrogen explosion.
As part of efforts to bolster its ability to deal with a serious accident, Kyushu Electric increased the number of night staff on duty at the plant to 52 from 12 prior to the Fukushima disaster.
Source: Asahi Shimbun
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201507270069
Sendai nuclear plant to restart as early as Aug.10
The operator of the Sendai nuclear power plant in southern Japan submitted an application on Friday to the country’s regulator to get final approval for putting one of its reactors online.
Kyushu Electric Power Company is hoping to turn on the reactor as early as August 10th.
The utility has completed the assembly of the reactor core after loading nearly 160 fuel rod assemblies into the plant’s No.1 reactor in early July.
It has also finished checking a water level gauge system for the containment vessel and confirmed that it is working normally.
Kyushu Electric Power will also conduct a drill starting from Monday to train for a possible severe accident. The exercise is mandated by the government’s new regulations to be performed before a reactor is restarted.
If no problems are found, the No. 1 reactor will go online as early as August 10th.
Last year the plant cleared the government’s new regulations introduced after the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. It was the first nuclear facility in Japan to do so
Source NHK
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150725_15.html
Tests begin on radiation data publication system
Japan’s nuclear regulators have begun testing a new radiation data-publicizing system for residents near a power plant.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority says it has begun to test-run the system it has developed in an area surrounding the Sendai nuclear power plant in Kagoshima Prefecture, western Japan.
Kyushu Electric Power Company aims to bring the plant back online next month.
The new system enables the central government and municipalities to provide their radiation data online for other organizations as well as for local residents during emergencies.
The system will allow users to access a special site on the Authority’s website to obtain such data in the event of a nuclear accident.
In the case of the Sendai plant, the website provides updated figures from 73 observation points within a 30-kilometer radius from the plant, as well as from cars equipped with radiation-monitoring equipment.
Figures are colored in red or yellow when they exceed government standards.
New nuclear emergency guidelines call for the evacuation of residents within a 5- to 30-kilometer radius from a power plant if radiation levels exceed the government limit.
The government reviewed the guidelines following the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident.
The regulators say they will fully launch the system in August after one month of testing. They say they will also set up web sites for other nuclear power plants.
Source: NHK
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150720_04.html
Kyushu Electric expects to restart Sendai nuke reactor Aug. 10
Kyushu Electric Power Co. will have the No. 1 reactor at the Sendai nuclear power plant in Kagoshima Prefecture back online as early as Aug. 10, according to sources.
The utility will begin producing electricity several days after the restart and resume commercial operations in mid-September, the sources added July 10.
Kyushu Electric is currently undergoing the final procedures toward the restart of the reactor under the new safety standards of the Nuclear Regulation Authority. The utility began loading nuclear fuel into the No. 1 reactor in the afternoon of July 7, and completed the work before dawn on July 10.
Kyushu Electric will continue to have NRA inspections of equipment related to the reactor. It will also hold a four-day safety drill from July 27 that will replicate conditions of a severe accident at the plant, which is located in the city of Satsuma-Sendai.
Source: Asahi Shimbun
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201507110054
Kyushu Electric finishes loading fuel into nuclear reactor
Kyushu Electric has completed loading nuclear fuel into a reactor at Sendai Nuclear Station,
The last rod assembly —the 157th — was embedded into the reactor at 12:12 a.m. Friday, ending an operation that engaged some 50 workers around the clock since the loading process started Tuesday at the station in Kagoshima Prefecture, a company official said.
Subject to inspection clearance by the government’s Nuclear Regulation Authority in the coming days, Kyushu Electric is envisaging firing up the reactor around Aug. 10 to start trial power transmission three days later.
The reactor is expected to be geared up to full steam later in the month before starting commercial power transmission in September, a move that would likely bring relief to the company, which has been reeling from losses caused by hefty fossil fuel costs to run conventional power plants with all its six nuclear reactors idled.
The resumption of the reactor — one of the two at the Sendai plant — will mark the restart of nuclear power generation in Japan that has been at a standstill due to safety concerns following the ongoing triple meltdown disaster at the Fukushima plant. None of Japan’s commercial reactors has been online for nearly two years.
If the nuclear authority finds any problem, Kyushu Electric will be required to address it and this may result in the restart being delayed.
The utility is aiming to reload fuel into the second reactor at the Sendai plant in early September and reboot it in mid-October.
Source: Japan Times
Slow N-screenings pass just 5 reactors
To mind that this article is from Yomiuri, a pro-government newspaper
Two years have passed since new safety standards were introduced requiring utilities to strengthen their measures to prevent serious accidents at nuclear facilities as a result of major earthquakes or tsunami, requirements put in place following the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Safety inspections are under way at 25 reactors at the nation’s 15 nuclear power plants. However, only five reactors at three nuclear plants, including the Nos. 1 and 2 reactors at Kyushu Electric Power. Co.’s Sendai plant, have been approved as meeting the new standards.
Given the time-consuming process of post-approval checks, all of Japan’s nuclear power plants continue to remain offline.
In September 2014, the Sendai nuclear plant in Kagoshima Prefecture cleared the new safety standards set by the Nuclear Regulation Authority. Kyushu Electric started loading fuel into the Sendai plant’s No. 1 reactor on Tuesday, which is highly likely to be brought online as early as mid-August.
Screenings have been completed for Kansai Electric Power Co.’s Nos. 3 and 4 reactors at its Takahama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture, but a time frame for resuming operations is not yet in sight. The Fukui District Court had issued a provisional disposition order to forbid the restart of the reactors.
Regarding Shikoku Electric Power Co.’s No. 3 reactor at its Ikata nuclear plant in Ehime Prefecture, the NRA will likely issue a screening certificate verifying that the reactor satisfies safety standards.
Safety screenings are progressing more slowly for 10 reactors at eight nuclear power plants, including TEPCO’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture, which uses boiling water reactors like the ones at the Fukushima No. 1 plant.
Estimates of maximum seismic vibrations, which form the basis for safety measures, have yet to be finalized for these reactors.
KEPCO is aiming to extend the operational period of its aging Nos. 1 and 2 reactors at its Takahama nuclear plant, as well as the No. 3 reactor at its Mihama plant, also in Fukui Prefecture, to more than 40 years. Forty years is the maximum period generally allowed by the state.
The three reactors must pass screenings and other inspections by July next year and November next year in accordance with state regulations, raising the issue of the need to speed up the inspection process.
“The new safety standards have set considerably high standards,” NRA Chairman Shunichi Tanaka said at a press conference on Wednesday, “so I believe utilities are having to take some time to satisfy those requirements.”
Source: Yomiuri
Local reaction mixed to fuel loading, imminent restart at Sendai nuclear plant
SATSUMASENDAI, Kagoshima — Kyushu Electric Power Co. started work to load nuclear fuel into the No. 1 reactor at the Sendai Nuclear Power Plant on July 7, sparking mixed reactions among local residents.
If the reactor restart at the Sendai plant goes ahead as planned, it will be the first such reactivation under stricter safety requirements adopted after the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant meltdowns in March 2011.
About 120 people including local residents gathered in front of the main gate of the Sendai nuclear power complex on the morning of July 7. Holding banners which read, “Loading of nuclear fuel is a step toward accidents,” they shouted, “We will never condone reactivation,” and, “Kyushu Electric should abandon nuclear reactors.”
Kiyoaki Kawabata, 59, who heads a local self-governing body in the Kagoshima Prefecture city of Satsumasendai, was angry that Kyushu Electric had moved ahead with fuel loading without holding a briefing session for local residents.
“Even though residents have been seeking an explanation, they ignored us. We cannot forgive them for that,” he said. Hiroshi Sugihara, a 67-year-old part-time lecturer at Kagoshima University, commented, “They should stop work and abandon their (reactor) restart plans.”
Seven people from Minamata, Kagoshima Prefecture, about 45 kilometers from the Sendai nuclear station, joined the rally. Takafumi Nagano, the 60-year-old head of a group calling for sound nuclear evacuation plans, said, “We must not allow for the beginning of a new nuclear era.” In the 1970s, Nagano lived in what was then Sendai city and joined a campaign opposing construction of the Sendai plant.
Hiroyoshi Yamamoto, who heads a pro-nuclear group in Satsumasendai and the Sendai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said, “Although the local economy remains in bad shape, I hope that, with the fuel loading, the imminent nuclear plant restart will activate the local economy and stabilize business performance.”
Kagoshima Gov. Yuichiro Ito said in a statement, “Because inspections will continue to be carried out before the nuclear plant is put back on line, I would ask Kyushu Electric to continue to place top priority on ensuring safety and take all appropriate measures.”
About 200 people opposed to the Sendai restart gathered in front of Kyushu Electric’s branch office in the Yurakucho district of Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward on the evening of July 7. The rally was organized by the “Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes.”
Holding banners, some of which said: “Don’t put in nuclear fuel!” and, “Don’t press the start button,” the demonstrators chanted slogans including “People can’t evacuate!” for about 90 minutes. Protester Yoshimitsu Umezawa, a 62-year-old caregiver from the Tokyo city of Machida, said, “We can’t forgive a reactivation which puts priority on the economy and ignores people’s lives.”
Source: Mainichi
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150708p2a00m0na013000c.html
Fuel is loaded into Kagoshima reactor as first restart nears
Kyushu Electric Power Co. on Tuesday afternoon began loading fuel into the No. 1 reactor at its Sendai power station in preparation for a restart in mid-August, the first under safety standards adopted in response to the Fukushima crisis.
The 890,000-kilowatt unit in the city of Satsumasendai, on the west coast of Kagoshima Prefecture, will also be the first to be brought back on line since 2012.
But local concerns remain about the possibility of damage due to volcanic activity and how people living within 30 km of the two-reactor plant would be evacuated if a disaster hits.
A spokeswoman for Kyushu Electric said the fuel loading is a 24-hour operation and involves inserting into the reactor 157 fuel rod assemblies currently stored in an adjacent fuel pool. The first fuel was loaded early Tuesday afternoon, she said, and the last of the assemblies are expected to be inserted by Friday.
If there are no problems with loading the fuel and starting up the reactor, further safety checks of the electricity grid will be conducted. If given the all-clear, Kyushu Electric will begin selling nuclear-generated electricity by mid-September.
The Sendai No. 1 reactor passed the Nuclear Regulation Authority’s safety standards last September, making it the first reactor since the March 11, 2011, quake and tsunami and three meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 plant to be cleared for restart under the new rules.
With the exception of Kansai Electric Power Co.’s Oi No. 3 and No. 4 reactors in Fukui Prefecture, which were online from July 2012 to September 2013, all of Japan’s commercial reactors have been offline since the disaster.
The NRA has also cleared the Sendai No. 2 reactor, which Kyushu Electric hopes to restart by mid-October. Since the stricter requirements for restarts went into effect in July 2013, operators have applied for safety inspections on 25 reactors at 15 plants nationwide.
The loading of the fuel into the Sendai No. 1 reactor came the same day as the government announced revisions to the basic disaster response plan that, it says, will improve communications and coordination between Tokyo and local entities if a natural and nuclear disaster occur at the same time.
But Ryoko Torihara, a resident of Satsumasendai and a long-term anti-nuclear activist, said that the NRA, Kyushu Electric and local officials are rushing to a restart without a thorough analysis of the risk of volcanic damage and with questions remaining about evacuation plans.
“It’s quite strange the NRA did not have any volcanic experts on its committee when it accepted the word of Kyushu Electric that the possibility of a gigantic volcanic eruption, called a caldera eruption, was extremely small,” she said. In addition, evacuation plans for those within 30 km of the plant are vague. There are questions about how to assist the infirm, or even whether there would be enough bus drivers to help get people out, she said.
Source: Japan Times
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/07/07/national/fuel-loaded-kagoshima-reactor-first-restart-nears/#.VZxMhfmFSM_
Sendai reactor fuel to be loaded from July 7
Officials at the Sendai nuclear power plant in southwestern Japan say they plan to start loading fuel into one of the reactors next Tuesday.
The Kyushu Electric Power Company reported the plan to the Nuclear Regulation Authority on Friday. Earlier the same day, pre-loading inspections were completed at the Number 1 reactor.
The utility expects it will take 4 days to insert 157 nuclear fuel assemblies into the reactor. Workers will use a crane to transfer the fuel rods one by one from a storage pool in an adjacent building.
Kyushu Electric will then check emergency equipment to inject coolant into the reactor and a device to insert control rods.
Workers will also undergo a drill to rehearse their response to a severe accident.
If all goes as planned, the utility will remove the control rods to activate the reactor in mid-August.
The Sendai plant’s Number 1 and Number 2 reactors became the first to clear safety screenings last year.
The screenings were required under the country’s new, stricter regulations introduced after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident.
The Number 1 reactor began undergoing equipment inspections in late March ahead of the Number 2 reactor.
All of Japan’s 43 reactors are currently offline.
Source: NHK
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150703_36.html
Sendai Nuclear Power Plant to be restarted in July 2015 surrounded by 5 active volcanoes
Sendai reactors surrounded by 5 active volcanoes
Japan’s NRA has given the go ahead to restart two reactors at the Sendai nuclear plant. The needed local approvals are expected to permit the plant to restart even though public opinion is about two to one against restarts. The first reactor could restart as early as July.
Warnings for a minor eruption at one of the five volcanoes near the Sendai nuclear plant were sent out. The volcano 64km from the nuclear plant has seen increased activity, enough so that experts put out a warning. Japan’s government has been pushing to restart the Sendai reactors without a viable plan for dealing with volcano risk.
We also found other risks that are unaddressed with the Sendai plant related to any disaster response.
While the nuclear plant restarts are largely a political move to shore up the profit margins of struggling electrical utilities, other challenges go unaddressed. Meanwhile fuel storage at nuclear plants may be at capacity within two years of reactor restarts.
With experts disputing the safety of restarting the Sendai reactors due to the proximity of so many active volcanoes they may be tempting fate.
Risks at Sendai
The Sendai nuclear power plant located in Kagoshima Japan has been selected as the one Japanese authorities would focus on attempting to approve for restart. Intakes reside at: 5ft above sea level Intake pump buildings 13 feet above sea level Reactor blocks at about 35-40 ft above sea level
Road routes are problematic at the plant. The plant is bordered by a large river to the north, the sea to the west and a large expanse of mountains to the east. Roads route either north along the river or south following the coastline a considerable distance before you reach an area that might be undamaged. The major road that routes towards Sendai crosses the river north of the plant before a road to get to the plant could be reached, requiring another trip across the river. Miyazaki sits further to the east but again requires a north route and river crossing.
All roads to the plant from the north are dependent on a bridge across the river to travel from the north or the east. The roads to the plant from the north as they each require a bridge crossing, circled in red. The road faces the river edge and varies from 5 feet above sea level to 31 feet above sea level.
The south route goes through areas like Tsuchikawa, an area that would likely be subjected to any tsunami that would hit the plant, potentially preventing travel further east to Kagoshima. This would cause a station blackout at the plant just like at Fukushima Daiichi.
The even bigger challenge is that the conditions that would take out offsite power can’t be overcome. That had been the 500th eruption for the year and was just past the half way point of 2013.
The problems a volcano can cause a nuclear power plant is a well known problem. Ash can also cause mechanical damage to anything with moving parts that the ash may get into including pumps and generators.
The isolation of the plant due to the terrain and roads could hinder any response effort.
Non evacuation plans for Sendai
Prime minister Abe said that he approves of the evacuation plans around the Sendai nuclear plant and that he considers them “concrete and reasonable”. There is currently no agency or authority to evaluate evacuation plans in Japan.
The governor of Kagoshima said he was reluctant to develop plans to rescue all the people within 30km. “There are 17 hospitals and welfare facilities within 10 km of the plant. “We could spend long hours creating something unrealistic, but it won’t function” in the event of an actual disaster, Ito told reporters last month.”
The prefecture told the remaining facilities to figure it out for themselves how to evacuate anyone between the 10 to 30km zone.
Critics of the evacuation plans around Sendai pointed out that damage from earthquakes, landslides and tsunami were not given consideration in planning.
2 Sendai reactors cleared by NRA for restart
Japan cleared the way for a resumption of nuclear power, four years after the world’s worst atomic disaster in more than two decades led to the shutdown of all the country’s reactors and fueled public opposition to the industry.
Regulators said Kyushu Electric Power Co.’s two-reactor Sendai nuclear plant had cleared safety hurdles introduced after the triple meltdowns at Tepco’s Fukushima No. 1 plant in 2011.
The Sendai plant, in Kagoshima Prefecture, still needs to go through operational checks before a restart but these are expected to be completed without major hitches.
Volcano explodes off Kyushu 151 km from Sendai, forcing small island to evacuate
A volcano exploded Friday morning on sparsely populated Kuchinoerabu Island, sending smoke and ash soaring into the sky above Kagoshima Prefecture and residents fleeing to the safety of nearby Yakushima Island.
The 9:59 a.m. eruption of 626-meter Mount Shindake, the island’s main peak, produced a plume over 9 km high and a pyroclastic flow that reached the shoreline, the Meteorological Agency said.
There was no warning.
Situated some 100 km off the southern tip of Kyushu, Kuchinoerabu has only about 100 full-time residents. The same mountain had 178 small eruptions in March alone and produced one last week that created a plume 4.3 km high.
Nobuo Geshi of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology claims Friday’s eruption is the same type as the one seen at Sakurajima but much larger.
Geshi, who heads a group of scientists conducting research on massive eruptions, said it is very similar to the one the island experienced in 1966.
He said it can also be regarded as part of the volcanic activity that continued after the eruption last August.
Geshi pointed out that none of the past cases was a one-off eruption, suggesting the activity may continue for a while.
Kuchinoerabu, located in an area south of Kyushu with a large concentration of active volcanoes, has experienced numerous bouts of volcanic activity since Shindake’s colossal eruption in 1841, which scorched nearby villages and killed many residents.
Shindake’s volcanic activities continued in the 1960s, resulting in another massive eruption in November 1966 that hurt three people and caused shock waves and pyroclastic flows that hit Kagoshima and Tanegashima Island, one of the Osumi Islands.
The mountain also experienced a small phreatic eruption in September 1980.
Since the 2000s, a large increase in volcanic quakes and tremors has been reported.
Abe Govt. pushes for nuke restart in Sendai even as volcano pops 151km (94 miles) from there
More than 100 people have been ordered to evacuate after a volcano erupted on the tiny southern Japanese island of Kuchinoerabu on Friday morning.
Spectacular TV footage captured the moment Mount Shindake exploded, sending columns of thick, black smoke high into the air.
Japan’s meteorological agency raised the alert level to five – the highest on its scale – and ordered the island’s 140 residents to evacuate.
The agency said no injuries or damage had been reported following the eruption, which occurred eight months after 57 people died after Mount Ontake in central Japan erupted without warning.
The agency added that pyroclastic flows, dense currents of rock fragments and hot gases from the volcano had reached the island’s north-west shore.
In Tokyo, the prime minister, Shinzo Abe, set up an emergency response team and dispatched a self-defence force to the island. Abe said he had instructed local authorities to do “everything possible” to ensure the islanders’ safety.
Yoshihide Suga, the government’s chief spokesman, said a coastguard vessel had also been sent to help residents evacuate.
A local official said the eruption, which occurred without warning, had forced about 100 people to take shelter at an evacuation centre. “There was a really loud sound of an explosion, and then black smoke rose, darkening the sky,” Nobuaki Hayashi told the national broadcaster NHK. “It smells of sulphur.”
Source: The Guardian
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