I Want For You To Know What Kind Of Thing A Genpatsu (Nuclear Power Plant) Is - Part V

V. Rash Seismic Design of Genpatsus

After The Great Hanshin Earthquake, seismic designs of genpatsus throughout Japan were hastily reviewed. The result was released in September stating, “Whichever genapatsu it is, no matter what kind of earthquake occurs there’s no problem” a disgusting statement. As far as my involvement with the industry, in the early days, earthquakes were not seriously considered. Ageing genpatsus shared the same light as the new, claiming there are no problems. This is a deadly mistake.

In 1993, the output spiked in Onagawa genpatsu’s #1 reactor during an earthquake with an intensity of 4 on the Japanese Richter scale, the automatic shutdown system did activated, but this was a serious accident. Why? Because in 1984, this genpatsu was constructed to stop during an intensity of 5 in which it did not. In simplified terms it is the same as if you are driving on the freeway and without stepping on the brakes, the brake system suddenly kicks in. It is not as simple as Tohoku Electric thinks, stating that it was good that it stopped. The reactor was designed to stop at 5, but stopped at 4. This could mean there is a high possibility that it may not stop at 5. In other words, it goes to show that various things do not go as planned. A similar accident happened during an earthquake at the Fukushima genptasu in 1987. There’s as many as 10 genpatsus of the same type existing in Japan.  When thinking of issues concerning earthquakes and genpatsus, isn’t this extremely frightening?

Previous 4/21

Will continue… 6/21