Free Republic

When the 13-meter (40-foot) tsunami that wrecked Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant hit Onagawa to the northeast, hundreds of residents found refuge at the local nuclear plant, rather than run the other way. It was the right call. At Fukushima, the tsunami knocked out power supply and its cooling system, triggering reactor meltdowns and forcing 80,000 to evacuate in the world's worst nuclear accident in 25 years. The Onagawa plant, in contrast, shut down safely and its gym served for three months as a shelter for those made homeless. "At that time, there was no better place than the nuclear plant,"...

The No. 1 reactor of the Onagawa nuclear power plant in Miyagi Prefecture on April 7 sustained a jolt greater than what it was designed to withstand during a strong aftershock from the powerful March 11 earthquake, according to nuclear safety officials. The finding raises further doubts about the viability of the assumed quake resistance at the Tohoku Electric Power Co. complex, even though it had been shut down safely after the deadly quake last month. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has instructed the regional utility serving northeastern Japan to analyze the impact of such a jolt on key...

IAEA Briefing on Fukushima Nuclear Accident (10 April 2011, 15:00 UTC) Presentation Summary of Reactor Status On Sunday, 10 April 2011, the IAEA provided the following information on the current status of nuclear safety in Japan: 1. Current SituationEarthquake of 7th AprilExternal power has been restored at all sites affected by the 7th April earthquake. The 3 litres of water that were spilled at Onagawa NPP have been cleaned up. Changes to Fukushima Daiichi Plant Status Overall, the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi plant remains very serious but there are early signs of recovery in some functions such as electrical...

TOKYO, April 8 (Reuters) - Water leaked out of spent fuel pools at the Onagawa nuclear plant in northeast Japan after a strong aftershock rocked the region late on Thursday, but there was no change in the radiation levels outside the plant, operator Tohoku Electric Power Co said on Friday.

Why Worry? Japan's Nuclear Plants at Grave Risk From Quake Damage Ishibashi Katsuhiko August 11, 2007 I had warned that a major earthquake would strike the Chuetsu region around Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture, and about the fundamental vulnerability of nuclear power plants. The 6.8 magnitude temblor of July 16 caused considerable damage to the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), proving me right. In the 40 years that Japan had been building nuclear plants, seismic activity was, fortunately or unfortunately, relatively quiet. Not a single nuclear facility was struck by a big quake. The government, along...

A STATE of emergency has been declared at a Japanese nuclear facility at Onagawa after excessive radiation levels were recorded there following a major earthquake, the UN atomic watchdog. The news came as the country was already battling a feared meltdown of two reactors at the ageing Fukushima atomic plant.