April 26, 2012
Japan Atomic Power Co’s Tsuruga nuclear power plant (NPP) may stand on an active fault, according to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) in a survey result released on April 24.
This has long been pointed out by a number of researchers and civic organizations.
Professor Watanabe Mitsuhisa of Toyo University commented to Akahata, “My research group has repeatedly argued that a fault running directly beneath the Tsuruga NPP could move at any time. However, the NISA has ignored our research findings.”
In his comment, the professor also stated, “Other NPPs hold the same possibility that a fault beneath them may move. As far as I can tell, the fast-breeder reactor ‘Monju’ and the Mihama NPP (both in Fukui Pref.) have a significantly higher risk of quakes caused by active faults lying beneath them. The Tsuruga NPP should be shut down. The NISA should start to heed the warnings of independent researchers.
Representative of the national liaison center of residents’ movement over NPPs Yamamoto Masahiko lives in Tsuruga City in Fukui Prefecture which hosts the NPP in question.
Yamamoto said to Akahata, “We have demanded that the active faults beneath the plant be rigorously assessed for a long time. The No.1 reactor at the plant is the oldest of all the existing nuclear reactors in Japan. It gives me the chills just imagining what might happen if an accident occurs at such an old reactor.”
He also said that the Tsuruga NPP operator should decide to abolish the plant’s reactors, including the No.2 reactor which sits atop an active fault.
The government’s own guidelines for earthquake-proof designs of NPPs prohibits the construction of nuclear power facilities and nuclear reactor buildings above active faults.
This has long been pointed out by a number of researchers and civic organizations.
Professor Watanabe Mitsuhisa of Toyo University commented to Akahata, “My research group has repeatedly argued that a fault running directly beneath the Tsuruga NPP could move at any time. However, the NISA has ignored our research findings.”
In his comment, the professor also stated, “Other NPPs hold the same possibility that a fault beneath them may move. As far as I can tell, the fast-breeder reactor ‘Monju’ and the Mihama NPP (both in Fukui Pref.) have a significantly higher risk of quakes caused by active faults lying beneath them. The Tsuruga NPP should be shut down. The NISA should start to heed the warnings of independent researchers.
Representative of the national liaison center of residents’ movement over NPPs Yamamoto Masahiko lives in Tsuruga City in Fukui Prefecture which hosts the NPP in question.
Yamamoto said to Akahata, “We have demanded that the active faults beneath the plant be rigorously assessed for a long time. The No.1 reactor at the plant is the oldest of all the existing nuclear reactors in Japan. It gives me the chills just imagining what might happen if an accident occurs at such an old reactor.”
He also said that the Tsuruga NPP operator should decide to abolish the plant’s reactors, including the No.2 reactor which sits atop an active fault.
The government’s own guidelines for earthquake-proof designs of NPPs prohibits the construction of nuclear power facilities and nuclear reactor buildings above active faults.
