February 22, 2013
Akahata editorial (gist)
A Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) expert panel compiled a draft report stating a strong possibility that faults running beneath the premises of the Higashidori nuclear plant in Aomori Prefecture are active, following the already-affirmed possibility of an active fault existing right under a Tsuruga nuclear power plant reactor in Fukui Prefecture.
The panel calls for additional surveys to be conducted to determine if a reactor building of the plant stands on a seismic active fault or not. Similar research on a fault fracture zone will take place at the premises of the Shika nuclear plant in Ishikawa Prefecture.
Given the present safety standard prohibiting the construction of nuclear facilities on active faults, the government cannot give a green light to the resumption of operations of suspended reactors at these plants.
Operators of those plants, however, are raising objections by insisting that they are not active faults, claiming that experts of the panel and the NRA are biased. Some of the mass media are also attacking the NRA panel.
The experts the NRA selected were recommended by academic societies such as the Japanese Society for Active Fault Studies. To call these experts biased and call for reassessment by the power industry’s favored scholars will lead to an unquestionably biased conclusion.
Active faults have the potential to cause earthquakes. Triggered by the 3.11 earthquake, more than one fault, which had not been confirmed as active, was said to have moved. That is why drilling surveys at the premises of nuclear plants and reassessment of faults are being conducted.
If an active fault moves under the ground of a nuclear plant and causes an earthquake, it may severely damage a reactor building and other related facilities, including the piping system.
Nuclear power generation is still an immature technology in the first place. Even without a big quake or tsunami, it has a risk of critical failures or accidents. Seeking the restart of idled nuclear reactors at any cost while underestimating the possibility of seismic active faults is tantamount to an attitude prioritizing industry interests over public safety.
A Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) expert panel compiled a draft report stating a strong possibility that faults running beneath the premises of the Higashidori nuclear plant in Aomori Prefecture are active, following the already-affirmed possibility of an active fault existing right under a Tsuruga nuclear power plant reactor in Fukui Prefecture.
The panel calls for additional surveys to be conducted to determine if a reactor building of the plant stands on a seismic active fault or not. Similar research on a fault fracture zone will take place at the premises of the Shika nuclear plant in Ishikawa Prefecture.
Given the present safety standard prohibiting the construction of nuclear facilities on active faults, the government cannot give a green light to the resumption of operations of suspended reactors at these plants.
Operators of those plants, however, are raising objections by insisting that they are not active faults, claiming that experts of the panel and the NRA are biased. Some of the mass media are also attacking the NRA panel.
The experts the NRA selected were recommended by academic societies such as the Japanese Society for Active Fault Studies. To call these experts biased and call for reassessment by the power industry’s favored scholars will lead to an unquestionably biased conclusion.
Active faults have the potential to cause earthquakes. Triggered by the 3.11 earthquake, more than one fault, which had not been confirmed as active, was said to have moved. That is why drilling surveys at the premises of nuclear plants and reassessment of faults are being conducted.
If an active fault moves under the ground of a nuclear plant and causes an earthquake, it may severely damage a reactor building and other related facilities, including the piping system.
Nuclear power generation is still an immature technology in the first place. Even without a big quake or tsunami, it has a risk of critical failures or accidents. Seeking the restart of idled nuclear reactors at any cost while underestimating the possibility of seismic active faults is tantamount to an attitude prioritizing industry interests over public safety.
