18 July 2007 - Kashiwazaki,
Japan — A 6.8 magnitude earthquake rocked
the world's largest nuclear plant on Monday,
causing a transformer fire. Since then,
revelations have been coming out about spills
and leaks at the plant.
Initially, plant owner Tokyo Electric Power
Company (TEPCO) said there was no leak of
radioactivity. Then it said there was a
small leak of radioactively contaminated
water. Then the size of the leak turned
out to be much larger than originally reported,
and the water was 50 percent more radioactive
than they had first said. Then it came out
that hundreds of nuclear waste barrels had
fallen over, with the lids coming off dozens
of them. Oh and, it was revealed that cobalt-60
and chromium-51 was released into the atmosphere
from an exhaust stack.
Lucky?
It's hard to call the residents of Kashiwazaki
lucky. Hundreds were injured by the quake,
at least nine have died, thousands are in
emergency shelters. But, if any of the four
working reactors had lost power to their
coolant system, it could have gone much
worse. From the Citizens' Nuclear Information
Center:
Even after automatic shutdown, the fuel
in the reactor core is still extremely hot,
so it is necessary to maintain a continual
flow of coolant. If it is not maintained,
the fuel could melt, leading to the release
of highly radioactive material into the
environment. Under some circumstances, it
could also result in an explosion.
Despite the potential seriousness of this
fire, TEPCO failed to announce whether the
transformer continued to operate, or whether
the emergency generator started up.
According to Japanese newspaper Yomiuri
Shimbun, TEPCO admitted its disaster response
measures did not function successfully,
and that there were only four workers available
to extinguish the fire, which burned for
almost two hours.
Sadly, no surprise
The scene at earthquake-ravaged Kashiwazaki-Kariwa
nuclear plant.
Enlarge Image The ground vibrations were
more severe than the nuclear plant was designed
to withstand, and there are some indications
that a previously undiscovered fault line
runs under the plant. Japan is one of the
world's most earthquake prone countries,
and also one of the most reliant on nuclear
power. Not a good combination.
The delay in reporting leaks and spills
also comes as no surprise to industry watchers,
but it does seem that Japan's government
may finally be loosing patience with an
industry rocked by scandal for the past
decade.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters,
"They raised the alert too late. I
have sent stern instructions that such alerts
must be raised seriously and swiftly."
He continued, "Those involved should
reflect on their actions."
"Nuclear power can only operate with
the people's trust," Abe told reporters.
The litany below shows that the betrayal
of peoples trust is standing operating procedure
for Japan's nuclear industry.
Nuclear power is never safe, but it can
be made less safe through a potent combination
of lies, cover-ups and geological fault
lines.
A lot to reflect on
The Japanese nuclear industry, and TEPCO
in particular, is no stranger to scandal.
In 2002, three top TEPCO officials resigned
after finally acknowledging that the company
had violated safety regulations and falsified
records at three of its largest nuclear
power plants (including the one at Kashiwazaki).
All 17 TEPCO reactors were ordered to shut
down at the end of the investigation. The
cover-up had been going on since the 1980s.
More examples:
March 2007 - It was discovered that the
Hokuriku utility did not inform the public
or nuclear inspectors about a serious incident
at Shika nuclear power plant where, on July
18th, 1999, failure of control rods lead
to an uncontrolled chain reaction.
April 2006 - A radioactive spill of 40
litres of liquid containing plutonium occurs
at a brand new reprocessing plant in Rokkasho-Mura.
August 2004 - A ruptured pipe in Mihama
nuclear power plant kills five workers.
July 2002 - A shipment of plutonium pellets
leaves Japan, on a return journey to the
UK, after revelations that British Nuclear
Fuels falsified records about safety checks
in their production.
September 1999 - Workers at a fuel factory
in Tokaimura fail to follow guidelines,
leading to an uncontrolled chain reaction
that lasts for three days. Three workers
die due to high irradiation and the neighbourhood
is evacuated.
More examples in this Boston Globe article.
More information about Japan's nuclear
program from the Citizens' Nuclear Information
Center.
