VIETNAM MAY DELAY BUILDING ITS 1ST NUCLEAR PLANT
Channel: rumorecurioso
Date: 2014-01-19

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/  

OPERATOR: FAULTS IN HIGASHIDORI PLANT NOT ACTIVE

The operator of the Higashidori nuclear power plant in northern Japan says 2 faults under the facility are not active.

 Tohoku Electric Power Company released the results of a fresh survey it conducted of the plant in Aomori prefecture on Friday.

 The extra survey was held through December, after a Nuclear Regulation Authority panel said that the faults appear to be active.

 The utility says analysis of samples taken from 120,000 to 130,000-year-old strata around the faults found they were solid rock, showing they have not moved in at least the past 130,000 years.

 It also says no traces of destruction of the strata -- often caused by active faults -- have been observed.

 NRA experts cited distortion in the strata as a grounds for their stance that the faults are likely to be active.

 The company says the distortion in some sections has not been confirmed and in others it may have been created after the soil absorbed water.

 Tohoku Electric concludes that its survey found no traces of the faults having moved in the past and suggested they are unlikely to move in the future.

 The NRA experts plan to compile a final report based on 4 rounds of field surveys and the results of the utility's additional survey.

 If the faults were found to be active, Tohoku Electric would be required to review its anti-quake measures, making it likely that the Higashidori plant would be kept offline.

Jan. 17, 2014 - Updated 12:24 UTC

CIVIC GROUP SEEKS FAULT SURVEY FOR NUCLEAR PLANT
  
A civic group is urging Japan's nuclear regulators to conduct a detailed survey of possible active faults in and around the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant on the Sea of Japan coast.

 The plant is the world's largest in terms of output.

 The group based in Niigata Prefecture said it had submitted a letter of request to the Nuclear Regulation Authority, ahead of a scheduled visit by its members to the plant in the prefecture.

 The members will carry out a survey within the compound to see if it has faults that could move and cause earthquakes. The survey is part of the authority's safety screening. Utilities have to pass it to return their plants online.

 The civic group says it conducted large-scale digging about 600 meters from the compound and found traces that a ground layer moved about 50,000 to 60,000 years ago.

 An active fault is defined as one that has moved in the last 120,000 to 130,000 years.

 Niigata University Professor Emeritus Masaaki Tateishi, a member of the group, says seismic faults affect the safety of a nuclear plant and they should be investigated thoroughly. He is calling on the authority to conduct a detailed survey both in and outside the plant.

Jan. 17, 2014 - Updated 09:11 UTC

NIIGATA GOVERNOR CRITICIZES TEPCO BUSINESS PLAN

The governor of the prefecture that hosts Tokyo Electric Power Company's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant has criticized the utility's turnaround plan for failing to put top priority on safety.

 Niigata Governor Hirohiko Izumida made the criticism when the firm's president Naomi Hirose visited him on Thursday to explain the 10-year business plan.

 Izumida said the company fails to fully look into the accident at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, and that the plan puts safety considerations on the back burner.

 The central government approved the plan on the previous day. Its main pillar is restarting reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in stages starting in July, to regain the company's profitability.

 Hirose told the governor that the timing of the restart was set only tentatively to draft the earnings plan. He said it never represents a formal schedule.

 Izumida said in response that it was regrettable that the utility made no consultation with the prefecture in deciding on a plan that affects the plant's safety.

 The governor said Tokyo Electric faces financial difficulty because it caused the accident. He said it's essential to fully examine the disaster in efforts to build a system of corporate governance to prevent a recurrence. Izumida later told reporters that he will keep watch on how the company scrutinizes the Fukushima crisis.

 Hirose said the firm will do what should be done, including a probe into Fukushima and formulation of a plan to prevent disasters and evacuate neighborhood residents during emergencies.

Jan. 16, 2014 - Updated 10:28 UTC