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Fault under Oi nuclear plant may be active, geologist warns

23 Comments

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“We would have learned nothing from Fukushima. I’m afraid we would see a repeat (of the disaster) one day.”

What we would have learnt, AGAIN is that many Japanese companies, in conjunction with the Government have no interested in doing what is right and protecting it's citizens and children from real potential dangers and are concerned only with keeping face and making money.

11 ( +11 / -0 )

All of Japan can be messed up for a long, long time! Fukushima messed up Northeastern Japan and we are getting nuclear fall out even down here in Tokyo and now all we need is that Oi plant down in Fukui to ruin all of Kansai and beyond, hmm...Japan is just way too small to be pulling this kind of crap! Small as in land size small, and then polluting the air and oceans with this radiation crap?? WTH??

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Shouldn't this article be broadened by stating, "Fault under JAPAN active"?

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Shouldn't this article be broadened by stating, "Fault under JAPAN active"?

No. Because that would be silly.

Watanabe, a tectonic geomorphologist, is part of a five-member team tasked by the Nuclear Regulation Authority with looking into the tectonic situation underneath the plant, which houses the country’s only working reactors.

So, 1 member of a 5 man team says it would be stupid to have the place working. I'd say that was 20% against it, which is a lot. All 5 should agree, if 1 guy says "no", then it should be a "no".

0 ( +3 / -3 )

hah dont worry, one week later the government will say "Even with active fault, there are no dangers to run a nuclear powerplant".

3 ( +3 / -0 )

@Probie,

So, 1 member of a 5 man team says it would be stupid to have the place working. I'd say that was 20% against it, which is a lot. All 5 should agree, if 1 guy says "no", then it should be a "no".

Perhaps if you remember the news that 4 of those 5 used to get quite a bit of money from TEPCO and/or other NPP companies, it all becomes even clearer?

10 ( +10 / -0 )

Government, head in sand.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

I hope the words in this headline are never re-worded into:

"HUGE QUAKE: Geologist warned of active fault under Oi nuclear plant.."

3 ( +3 / -0 )

"A calmer scientific approach" -- ie. we all need to open those brown envelopes from KEPCO and say it's okay for the plant to run.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Even if the reactors were to be 'decommissioned' now, the site would be full of radioactive material for scores of years to come.

As I read it, the biggest problem there was said to be how to guarantee the flow of coolant water, with the 'fault' crossing beneath the inflow conduit.

Where's Basroil?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Gotta love the political vagueness of every statement in this article. Probably, could be, may have been, should be. Does anyone in this panel have the balls to give a definitive answer? Does anyone in this country have the balls to give a definitive answer? Due to the delays and indecisiveness in getting a conclusion there is obviously a lot doubt in the stability of this fault, which 'should' mean it is unstable and the reactors need to be decommissioned, but we all know that economics and pride will win the battle and the result will be to continue using these reactors in the hope another 'unprecedented' earthquake doesn't happen. Wombats! The whole bloody lot of them!

8 ( +8 / -0 )

We should take Mr. Watanabe seriously, and understand the other four geologists as people who lack this courage.

11 ( +10 / -0 )

a fault - the meeting place of two or more of the plates that make up the earth's crust

Wrong. The faults at Oi may be caused by pressures from a plate boundary, but the closest subduction zone is way out in the Pacific ocean. Faults themselves are not the meeting place of plates.

0 ( +2 / -1 )

A lot of mays, coulds and mights these days.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

120.000 years ago is a long time, I don't know how they get to such a date?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Time to close the nuke plants down and clean up Japan!! Heck! Clean up this entire planet!!

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Nuclear power and earthquakes .....not a happy mix.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Close down all the nukes, and replace them with....um.... coal, no....petrogas, no.... windfarms, no... thermo, maybe, but not in nature preserves....solar, um, not very efficient, um...thorium, too kooky....AKB power!

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

Gotta love the political vagueness of every statement in this article. Probably, could be, may have been, should be.

Even if it disappoints you, science rarely gives precise answers. In order to come to more reliable, even though still not certain conclusions, more investigations are necessary. The sad thing is that those investigations should have been done long ago before the plant was built. But that doesn't help us now, since the plant is there and we have to deal with it. Shutting the plant down makes it a little bit safer, but is by no way a guarantee that there won't be severe problems in case of a major earthquake.

Considering the risks of an active fault as well as the fact that Oi has neither passed the stress tests nor the new criteria for re-start, which are just under discussion and which will apply to all Japanese NPPs, there is no reason to make Oi an exception and leave it online. Shutting down Oi will also send an important message to KEPCO and it's customers: you have to pay when you try to cut corners. Companies only learn through financial pain.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Good confidence-building photo above showing everyone hard at work staring at the screens. Nothing can go wrong here!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Building and operating a NPP on top of a fault line is about as intelligent as playing a game of Russian roulette..Given enough time both will end tragically.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Oi is not the only plant where they are doing this. Tsuruga NPP has a similar team at work looking at underground fissures.

"Putting the cart before the horse" comes to mind.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Fault under Oi nuclear plant may be active

That is known. Whats new?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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