Environment & Energy

kristopher

(29,798 posts) Tue Mar 6, 2012, 03:17 PM Mar 2012

(Japan) Tsuruga nuke plant sits atop major fault

Tsuruga nuke plant sits atop major fault
Kyodo

An active fault running under reactors 1 and 2 at the Tsuruga nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture is much longer than previously thought and could trigger a 7.4-magnitude earthquake, larger than earlier projections, according to a team of government-affiliated researchers.

"The worst-case scenario should be taken into consideration" as the Urasoko fault, now thought to extend at least 35 km, could activate faults on the south side of the Tsuruga plant, warned Yuichi Sugiyama, leader of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology's research team.

The government's Earthquake Research Committee and Japan Atomic Power Co., which runs the Tsuruga plant, have estimated that the Urasoko fault, combined with other faults connected to it, was 25 km long and capable of triggering a 7.2-magnitude quake.

But the research team's latest findings suggest that is an underestimate, possibly as Japan Atomic Power did not take oceanic faults into account when assessing the Tsuruga plant's safety.

The research team ...

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120306x2.html

A bit more information here: http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20120306p2g00m0dm081000c.html

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(Japan) Tsuruga nuke plant sits atop major fault (Original Post) kristopher Mar 2012 OP

Or not FBaggins Jun 2014 #1

FBaggins

(26,754 posts)

1. Or not

Reply to kristopher (Original post)

Tue Jun 10, 2014, 11:40 AM

Jun 2014

Tsuruga faults inactive, says study

Geologic faults that run beneath the Tsuruga plant are not active, said an international expert team which also recommended better communication between plant owner Japan Atomic Power Company (Japco) and regulators.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) is enacting much more stringent rules on nuclear safety than the previous regime. One is a requirement for nuclear operators to satisfy the NRA that known geologic faults near power plants have not been active for some 120-130,000 years.

Proving this negative to NRA's satisfaction has been a challenge, and for the utility Japco this has meant making enormous excavations alongside its Tsuruga power plant to examine the status of two faults that run nearby.

Presenting its second set of findings this week, an international expert team concluded that there was no evidence that the faults near Tsuruga were active. They pointed to several layers of sediment and one of volcanic ash that were laid down on top of the faults and have rested undisturbed since their last movement, more than 127,000 years ago.

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS-Tsuruga-faults-inactive-says-study-1006141.html

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