The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #136314   Message #3149299
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
06-May-11 - 01:35 PM
Thread Name: BS: Japan Nuclear plant disaster, 2011
Subject: RE: BS: Japan Nuclear plant disaster, 2011
Hamaoka plant- BBC story incomplete and not accurate?

Japan has urged Chubu Electric (the operator, not Tepco) to suspend all 3 reactors while a seawall and other structures are built to ensure a major earthquake/tsunami does not cause a second radiation crisis.
Chubu said it will "swiftly consider" the government's request.
Chubu has drawn up safety measures including a seawall 1.5 km long over the next 2-3 years. [12 meters height, T. Yamada, Chubu official]. Also planned are concrete walls along 18 water pumps to protect the pumps from damage, to take 1-1 1/2 years to construct.
The plant has no barrier now but sandhills between the ocean and the plant are c. 10-15 meters high, according to the company.

"Trade Minister Banni Kaieda said the utility should halt operating its nuclear reactors while implementing such safety measures. He argued Chubu's safety measures were "not enough" without elaborating further."
"Until the company completes safety steps, it is inevitable that it should stop operating nuclear reactors," Kaieda said.

The plant provides power to 16 million people. TOYOTA headquarters plant and other automakers would be affected.

Associated Press, May 6, 2011, Shino Yuasa.

Note- This will be the subject of back-and-forth argument for some time before implementation !
The government request does not mean immediate stoppage.