JAPAN AND NUCLEAR ENERGY

CAN QUAKE-PRONE JAPAN REALLY COEXIST WITH NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS?

Keiji Takeuchi

Asahi Shimbun, March 13, 2011

Friday's massive earthquake that ravaged the Tohoku region led to the first-ever state of emergency issued for nuclear plants, including the evacuation of a neighborhood.

The situation is a fresh reminder of the serious latent danger of nuclear power stations and shatters assurances that nuclear power plants are safe because they are carefully designed.

And failures at nuclear plants in the quake raises a fundamental question: How can earthquake-prone Japan coexist with nuclear power plants?

The emergency core cooling system (ECCS), which pours water into the nuclear reactor core to cool it in case of an accident, was deemed a key to the multiple safety systems for those reactors.

When an earthquake hits, reactors automatically shut down. But that alone cannot prevent an accident because the nuclear fuel continues emitting heat. If the core is not properly cooled down, it could melt the fuel and trigger a disastrous explosion.

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