Nuclear scare after Japan quake

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Alan

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A strong earthquake in central Japan has damaged a large nuclear power plant causing a leak of radioactive material, officials at the plant have said.
A small amount of water containing radioactive substances leaked into the sea, officials said, and a fire broke out at the plant in Kashiwazaki.

At least seven people were killed and hundreds injured in the earthquake.

Several hours later a second earthquake of magnitude 6.6 struck in the sea off Kyoto in western Japan.

Tokyo Electric Power Company said the small amount of radioactive material that leaked into the sea posed no environmental risk.

Reactors at the plant automatically shut during the magnitude 6.8 quake.

'Vertical jolt'

The seven deaths occurred in the city of Kashiwazaki.

Four women and three men - all in their 70s and 80s - died from injuries sustained in the earthquake, officials said.

Several hundred homes and businesses in Niigata prefecture were destroyed, roads were cracked and several landslides buried roads.


More than 800 people were reported injured, most with broken bones, cuts and abrasions from collapsing buildings and falling objects.

"First there was a sharp vertical jolt and then it shook sideways for a long time and I couldn't stand up," said Kashiwazaki teacher Harumi Mikami, who was at her school when the earthquake struck at 1013 (0113GMT).

"Tall shelves fell over and things flew around," she told Reuters news agency.

More than 7,000 people were evacuated from their homes as aftershocks of up to magnitude 5.8 shook the area.

No damage from the second earthquake deep under the sea off Kyoto was reported but Tokyo residents said they felt buildings shake.

Safety fears

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe broke off from election campaigning to visit Kashiwazaki.

He promised to "make every effort towards rescue and also to restore services such as gas and electricity".

The safety of Japan's nuclear installations, which supply much of Japan's power, have come under the spotlight in recent years after a string of accidents and mishaps.

Japan lies in one of the world's most earthquake-prone regions and the ability of some reactors to withstand a strong tremor has been questioned.

Three years ago an earthquake in the Niigata area killed 65 people.

In 1995, a magnitude 7.3 tremor hit the city of Kobe, killing more than 6,400 people.
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:eek:

Doesn't Japan have around 50 nuke power plants.
 
I shudder at the thought of Koeberg being tested in a similar way....
 
And they were always saying how "Earthquake Proof" those reactors were. Oh well, at least they admitted the leak, unlike the Americans at 3-Mile-Island and the British at Windscale.
 
Skeptik said:
And they were always saying how "Earthquake Proof" those reactors were. Oh well, at least they admitted the leak, unlike the Americans at 3-Mile-Island and the British at Windscale.
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Or the Soviets when their's actually exploded :D
 
About 1.5l of contaminated water leaked. Its not an issue at the moment according to the power co's, I guess I'd be more afraid of the Campylobacter and Salmonela many people over there are ingesting by eating raw chicken sushi.
 
Skeptik said:
They couldn't hide it. They evacuated a whole district :eek: It was a freak accident though ..
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Apparently Nippon Power has a history of informing the public long "after the fact". This is the first time they're so quick. Japan is pretty hectic with earthquakes, small tremors are so common people almost get used to them.
 
Raw chicken sushi? I thought sushi was fish? :D Sorry...

And I for one would rather have diarrhea than a tongue the size of mars, 13 toes and 3 nostrils :D

But that's just me ;)
 
Lycanthrope said:
Raw chicken sushi? I thought sushi was fish? :D Sorry...

And I for one would rather have diarrhea than a tongue the size of mars, 13 toes and 3 nostrils :D

But that's just me ;)
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Chicks would love you tho :D
 
Gru said:
Koeberg got KO'ed by a simple bolt. An earthquake would flatten it :eek:
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When was the last time you heard of of Earthquake at or anyway near Cape Town?

If any of the new powerstations are located near Welkom then we can worry.:D
 
yes 1.5l leaked into the sea lol

htf does 1.5l make it all the way to the sea

i wonder how much really leaked into the sea
 
alanf85 said:
:eek:

Doesn't Japan have around 50 nuke power plants.
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55, with a new one being built every year or so. They're resource-poor and isolated. It's hard to buy power from other countries like continental states do. As a result, they turned to safe, clean nuclear power. Their nuclear plants are the hardest in the world.
 
killadoob said:
htf does 1.5l make it all the way to the sea
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Nuclear plants are generally built near large bodies of water, using that water to power turbines. A traditional nuclear powerplant is basically a huge steam engine using nuclear material instead of coal fires. A small leak would be plausible.
 
...hardest in that they're particularly robust? I'm thinking in terms of a hardened installation... gaah, now there's a term you could really get into with a double-entendre spade :P

Strongest would connotate to power output rather than resilience, for me at least...
 
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