Europeans: Our Nuclear Power Plants are Safe But Japan's are Not

www.planethoughts.org [Note: another fire occured in the world's largest nuclear plant, on March 5, 2009. This is their eighth reported fire - ed.]

On Friday,a short news segment about the international reaction to the problems at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant aired on Japanese TV. [See the more recent video.]

As you probably know, an earthquake last week [in 2007] caused a fire and some radiation leaks at the facility, which is the world's largest of its kind. The story became huge news across the world, particularly in western countries that have nuclear power plants of their own. People that they ask on the street know about the problems that have occurred in Japan, but they are not worried about such a thing happening in their own country. One Englishman points out that (unlike Japan) England has very strict regulations, while a Frenchman states that France's nuclear power plants are better maintained than Japan's. Their statements could just be based on their own irrational notions that their countries must surely be safe from such problems, but then again, when you look at stories like these, you have to wonder if TEPCO really is maintaining global safety standards:

The seismology community agrees that the Tokai region, which includes Tokyo and Hamaoka, is due for a massive quake. The Tokyo metropolitan government has drawn up disaster plans that assume an 87 per cent probability of a magnitude 8.0 quake within 30 years. But power companies have been allowed to prepare for much smaller quakes when building nuclear plants. If the epicentre of Monday's quake had been 10 km further to the southwest, the seismology research team at Kobe University calculates that the reactor could have split and unleashed a "terrible, terrible disaster".

As it is, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) has admitted to a worrying series of problems since the quake, including the stunning revelation that the Kashiwazaki plant was constructed on top of an active fault - despite Tepco's firm denials in court that this was the case. Vital reactor data on the minutes immediately after the quake have already been lost by Tepco. Numerous leaks of radiation have been detected.

-The Times

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