Japanese activists and some seismologists point out that some of this earthquake-prone archipelago's 51 nuclear reactors are built in areas where quakes are likely. It's like a kamikaze terrorist wrapped in bombs just waiting to explode. Among the factors used to decide where to locate plants are past earthquake data and proximity to known fault lines and to the ocean, which is used to cool reactors. A fifth reactor is under construction at the plant. Earthquakes often occur in areas where faults have not been found, which was the case in the 1995 temblor in Kobe.
Active faults reflect only a part of the whole earthquake state, just like a tail of an animal.
Japanese and international regulators, as well as the Japanese companies building the reactors, note that earthquake data are taken into consideration in the placement of reactors, which they say can withstand earthquakes as great as magnitude 8.5. If an earthquake hits a plant, safety devices will function even if other facilities are damaged, and the reactor will automatically stop, cool down and then prevent leakage, says Yuji Kurotani, senior examiner in Japan's Nuclear Power Safety Examination Division. An earthquake larger than 8.5 could spell trouble, however. But that kind of case will never happen. Unlike in Japan, a country lacking in natural resources that is aggressively beefing up its nuclear power program to supplant reliance on imported fuels, the issue of vulnerability to earthquakes hasn't come up much in the U.S. in recent years.