Japan Press Weekly

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2012 June 13 - 19 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

Oi nuclear power plant’s emergency center may be useless in crisis situation

An off-site center annexed to the Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture will probably be useless as a nuclear emergency stronghold in times of disaster. The Oi plant will likely be the first in Japan to resume operations, but its safety issues are still under question.

The off-site center stands on the coastline which is 7 kilometers from the Oi plant and 100 meters from a seawall. The facility is only 2 meters above the water line. Seismic hazard maps indicate that this area would be flooded if hit by a tsunami.

Like the Oi off-site center, the center for the Onagawa plant (Miyagi Pref.) was also located off the shore and its height above sea level was 8 meters, but the 3.11 tsunami killed the Onagawa center’s chief and the townspeople who were taking refuge at the center.

Head of the Oi off-site center Nakamura Hideki stammered, “I can’t tell whether or not our facility can function properly when hit by a tsunami.”

Authorities have no plans to strengthen the nearby breakwater precautions. The center is equipped with only a single emergency diesel generator which is not waterproof. The air-conditioning system does not have filters installed to prevent radioactive materials from entering.

What is more, many bumps and cracks exist on the ground because the center was built on reclaimed land made from dirt extracted during the construction of the Oi plant.

Japanese Communist Party member of the Oi Town Assembly, Saruhashi Takumi said, “This place is basically composed of sludge and the bedrock is unstable.”

The sole JCP representative in the assembly said, “Ground liquefaction will destroy the seawall and cause the land to sink.”