All's well, not to worry

April 18, 2016

Nuclear regulator: Sendai reactors need not halt

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20160418_23/

Japan's nuclear regulator says there's no need to suspend operations at the country's only operating nuclear plant on the quake-hit southwestern island of Kyushu.

Nuclear Regulation Authority officials met on Monday to examine the impact of the frequent earthquakes since Thursday on nuclear power plants in the region.

The quakes have been centering in Kumamoto and surrounding areas. Officials discussed the impact on 2 online reactors at the Sendai nuclear plant, some 100 kilometers south of Kumamoto.

They said the maximum force logged from tremors at the plant was 8.6 gal, far lower than the 160-gal that would automatically shut down the reactors. Gal is a unit of acceleration.
They said the plant's anti-quake measures assume much more powerful earthquakes and there is no problem with continuing operations.

They also discussed the impact on 3 offline nuclear power stations in the southwestern and other regions where tremors were felt. They found no irregularities in any of them.

The experts agreed to keep a close watch on future seismic activities and their impacts as the meteorological agency warns of more possible quakes.

They also instructed the Authority's secretariat to provide more detailed and up-to-date information on nuclear plant operation in the event of earthquakes.

The agency was criticized for being slow to update such information on its website when the first of the quakes occurred in the Kyushu region on Thursday.