Japan shuts nuclear power plant

Japan shuts nuclear power plant

www.heraldsun.com.au

THE Japanese Government has ordered a nuclear plant located near a major tectonic fault line to be shut down because of safety fears, Kyodo News reports.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the government planned to ask the operator, Chubu Electric, to stop reactors No. 4 and No. 5 at the Hamaoka plant, 200km southwest of Tokyo in Shizuoka prefecture.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.cnn.com

Sorry if this is a repost. I searched and didnt find anything.

Are they hinting at something the public doesn't know yet? Will shutting it down really make it safe? I never understood why they insist on building these things on top of fault lines. It seems like a no-brainer to me. Any comments?

www.heraldsun.com.au
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by ProjectBlue


I don't understand why they build something so potentially dangerous as nuclear power plants in the first place?? There are many other ways for electricity and power other than potentially the most dangerous type in the world!!

reply to post by ProjectBlue


I was under the impression the fuel rods will still need to be cared for and cooled for years to come. Maybe they are just worried about some safety shortcomings and this is blown out of proportion.

I hope they are not expecting to be lauded and praised for shutting down reactors which should never have been built on fault lines in the first place.

That's the problem with the energy cartel, they build and operate where it's politically expedient... not scientifically sound.

Of course, public servants are supposed to prevent that kind of thing from happening in the second place... but well... we ALL know how it goes with "elected officials and public servants" don't we?

reply to post by Maxmars


You know, another thing I was thinking is that this totally looks like some kind of PR thing. "Dont worry Japan. Your government is taking proactive steps to prevent another Fukashima." When in reality, they should have never put nuclear power plants on fault lines to begin with. I think the Japanese Government has been getting a lot of flack for how poorly they handled (and are still handling) the Fukashima disaster. This is just an attempt to appease the growing worldwide anger. At least, thats my opinion.

Is it being shut down or as the headline says in CNN 'SHOULD' be shut down?

A little deceptive as to what is happening. . .

reply to post by AnteBellum


The CNN link was from earlier today when they were discussing the issue. Its now official that this plant will be shutdown, but as everyone know nuke plants don't have off switches. Here is another link with some more specific details.

blogs.forbes.com...

Originally posted by ProjectBlue
I never understood why they insist on building these things on top of fault lines. It seems like a no-brainer to me.

That location SW of Tokyo looks like the most dangerous location in the country. This site is in Spanish, so I won't quote what it says, but I think the images are self explanatory, so I'll just post those:

lamula.pe...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/2b8d2abcda42.jpg[/atsimg]
That's the location of the nuclear plants in Japan. See the one SW of Tokyo and how the fault line supposedly stops SW of the nuclear plant? It doesn't stop as shown, see the next map:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d4d45cbb8602.gif[/atsimg]
It looks to me like that nuclear plant is built practically on top of a major fault when you look at this map of the fault line, in yellow.

You really have to question the sanity of nuclear plants anywhere in Japan unless they are designed to withstand a magnitude 9.5 quake, and I don't think any are rated that high.

But from these maps, it does look like they are closing the most dangerous location.

It appears local governments are resisting letting ANY nuclear plant resume operations. There are many plants that were shut down for routine maintenance or inspections that are not being allowed to restart, and the fear is that as other plants go offline for maintenance before summer, the local municipalities will not let them restart either.

Local concerns delay nuclear operations throughout Japan

I think some people in Japan are getting the message. Unfortunately, this will hurt them in the short run as they don't have provisions to replace an estimated 20% of the country's power this summer. Its gonna be a long hot summer.