Nuclear plant jolted in quake

Nuclear plant jolted in quake
Some radiation leaked, officials say.

Published Tuesday, July 17, 2007

KASHIWAZAKI, Japan (AP) - More than a day after a powerful earthquake shook northern Japan, officials revealed today that a nuclear plant sustained a long list of problems, including the leakage of radioactive water, an outbreak of fires and burst pipes.

The malfunctions at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power plant - and the delays in acknowledging them - are likely to feed concerns about the safety of Japan’s 55 nuclear reactors, which supply 30 percent of the quake-prone country’s electricity and have had a long string of accidents and cover-ups.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said 50 cases of malfunctioning and trouble were found at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant since yesterday’s magnitude 6.6 quake, which killed at least nine people and left 13,000 homeless.

The company said it was still inspecting the plant, which shut down automatically after the quake, and further problems could emerge.

Still, TEPCO spokesman Kensuke Takeuchi called the instances discovered so far "minor troubles" and said they posed no threat to people or the environment.

In five of the reactors, major exhaust pipes were knocked out of place, and TEPCO was investigating whether they leaked radioactive materials, the statement said.

TEPCO also said about 100 drums containing low-level nuclear waste fell at the plant during the quake and were found a day later, some of the lids open.

The company also said a small amount of radioactive materials cobalt-60 and chromium-51 were emitted into the atmosphere from an exhaust stack. The quake also initially caused a small fire at an electrical transformer in the sprawling plant.

The Japanese nuclear power plant, the world’s largest in terms of power output capacity, stands near the epicenter of yesterday’s magnitude 6.6 quake.

Twelve hours after the fire, it was announced that the temblor also caused a leak of water containing radioactive material.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe criticized the delay in notifying the public.

"They raised the alert too late. I have sent stern instructions that such alerts must be raised seriously and swiftly," Abe told reporters in Tokyo. "Those involved should repent their actions."

Masanori Hamada, a professor of earthquake engineering at Tokyo’s Waseda University, said the quake showed the government should push to increase the quake-resistance standards of its reactors.

"It’s unthinkable that water leaks and fire could be triggered so easily," Hamada said. "TEPCO must provide a full explanation to the public."

The plant in Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, 135 miles northwest of Tokyo, eclipsed a nuclear power station in Canada’s Ontario as the world’s largest power station when it added its seventh reactor in 1997.

The Japanese plant, which generates 8.2 million kilowatts of electricity, has been plagued with mishaps. In 2001, a radioactive leak was found in the turbine room of one of the reactors.

The plant’s safety record and its proximity to a fault line prompted nearby residents to file a series of lawsuits claiming that the government had failed to conduct sufficient safety reviews when it approved the plant’s construction in the 1970s.