Ohi fault not active

November 15, 2013

Panel: Ohi nuclear plant fault "not active"

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20131115_48.html 

A group of experts has broadly approved a draft report that says a fault line beneath a nuclear power plant in the central prefecture of Fukui is not active.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority held a meeting of experts on Friday to discuss the draft document about the fault, known as F-6. It runs below the plant in the town of Ohi in Fukui Prefecture on the Japan Sea coast.

When the experts conducted on-site inspections in September, they agreed that it is not active.

The draft report presented by the nuclear body's secretariat says the fault has not moved in the last 120,000 to 130,000 years, and there is no possibility it will move again.
None of the experts objected to the draft report, and NRA Commissioner Kunihiko Shimazaki declared that they broadly approved it.

The participants at the meeting agreed to further examine other fault lines at the plant. They will study them during safety checks that are required before idle reactors can be restarted.

They are expected to submit a final report to the Nuclear Regulation Authority after hearing opinions from 4 other experts who took part in the on-site inspections.

The NRA has been conducting surveys on faults that could potentially affect 6 nuclear power plants, including the facility in Ohi. This is the first time that it has reached a broad agreement that a fault is not active. In May, it judged that a fault below a reactor at the Tsuruga plant in