Japan Nuclear Plants Safe if Big Quake Hit - Operators
Date: 21-Sep-07
Country: JAPAN
All the nation's nuclear operators said in statements that a
repeat of the earthquake that hit Tokyo Electric Power Co's
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in July would not
affect the plants' ability to shut and cool down nuclear
reactors and isolate the radioactive materials.
The 6.8-magnitude quake that hit TEPCO's plant on July 16
was more powerful than nuclear plants are generally designed to
withstand such a tremor but would not affect the plants' safety,
the operators said.
Japan's trade ministry had requested a comprehensive safety
report from all nuclear operators after the July quake.
Fears about the safety of Japan's nuclear industry were
revived when radioactive water leaked from the TEPCO plant after
the tremor. The earthquake killed 11, injured more than 1,000
and flattened hundreds of homes.
Nine utilities and a wholesaler operate 17 nuclear power
plants in Japan.
