Safe Workplace and Safety News
This is the safety news blog for the Safe Workplace web site. We cover workplace safety related news with a focus on how safety, or a lack of safety, impacts employers, employees and their families. We also cover topics such as safety training, safety tools, and legal issues related to safety. For regular safety news and information enter your email address in the box above the Subscribe button to the right (then click on the button).
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Japanese Earthquate & Safety
An article at news@nature.com reported:
"An earthquake off the western coast of Japan yesterday hit a nuclear plant with more than twice the jolt that the plant was expected to have to handle. The shock seems to have done little immediate damage, but has raised concerns about whether Japan's nuclear plants are designed to withstand the kind of shaking they are likely to experience."
The news@nature.com article also reports that the quake caused a small fire that was quickly extinguished.
Mainichi Daily news reports today:
"Water containing a small amount of radiation leaked into the sea from a nuclear power station, where four reactors were automatically shut down after a powerful earthquake jolted Niigata Prefecture on Monday, government officials said.
This is the first time in Japan that radiation has leaked from a nuclear power station because of the impact of an earthquake, officials said. It will unlikely to adversely affect the heath of people or the environment."
The outcome appears to be that, although the quake caused stresses that were twice what the facility was designed for, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant performed well and no safety or health hazards resulted.
Labels: Nuclear Power Safety
posted by Steve Hudgik - Go to this Workplace Safety Post |
4 Comments:
Additional information, and corrections to earlier news, is now available. An article in the English newspaper, the Guardian Unlimited is available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/japan/story/0,,2129237,00.html
A new fact that is of particular importance is that this facility lies on the fault that caused Monday's earthquake. The article reports:
"The world's biggest nuclear power station faces an uncertain future after it emerged today that it may lie directly above the fault line that triggered this week's earthquake..."
The article also reports that some of the information that was released immediately after the quake was not accurate:
"...the Tokyo Electric Power company [Tepco], which operates the plant, said the amount of radioactivity in water that leaked into the sea during the earthquake was 50% higher than it originally said. The firm blamed a calculation error and said the levels were still well within safety standards."
As can be expected, more detailed news about the damaged nuclear power plant has been coming out. The most comprehensive story I've seen is at:
MSNBC
The latest report concerning leaks states:
"The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency found radioactive iodine had leaked from an exhaust pipe at the plant, Kyodo News agency and national broadcaster NHK reported."
"NHK said the material had been leaking into the atmosphere until Wednesday."
"The inspectors, however, concluded the leak was too small to harm the environment or public health, the reports said. Officials at the agency said they could not immediately confirm the reports."
What I find disturbing is not what is happening at the power plant in Japan. Yes, they have made some mistakes, but in a disaster such as this it is difficult to respond to everything that is happening without making some mistakes. Those problem areas need to be identified (as is happening), evaluated, and changes made to address them.
What is disturbing is that some bloggers are calling this a "Chernobyl type disaster". There is no comparison between what happened at Chernobyl and what happened at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power plant. Let's stick to the facts.
Link to additional news:
No Damage To Kashiwazaki Kariwa Fuel, Tepco Confirms
I expect this will be the final comment on this subject.
An article in the Daily Yomiuri reports that the world news media sensationalized the effect of the earthquake on the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home