SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Japan Orders 'Stress Tests' of Nuclear Plants
Checks on 54 reactors intended to reassure public the facilities are safe after Fukushima accident sparked by tsunami.
Jul 06, 2011
Japan has said it will run "stress tests" on all its nuclear reactors in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi atomic accident sparked by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster.
The ongoing crisis, the world's worst atomic accident since Chernobyl 25 years ago, has ignited debate in Japan about the safety of nuclear power, which before the disaster accounted for one third of its electricity needs.
The centre-left government ordered a round of initial tests on the country's other atomic power plant after the disaster, and said on Wednesday the new stress tests aimed to reassure the public that the facilities are safe.
"The safety of nuclear power plants has been secured, but this is to gain a further sense of security among the people," Banri Kaieda, Japan's economy and industry minister, said.
He did not immediately give details of what the tests would entail or when they would start, saying only they would commence soon.
Triple disaster
Japan's nuclear crisis was sparked by a powerful 9.0 seabed quake, the country's biggest on record, that sent a massive tsunami barrelling into the northern Pacific coastline, shattering entire towns.
Amid a power blackout, the wave knocked out back-up generators, which disabled reactor cooling systems and led to meltdowns, explosions and continuing leakage of radiation into the air, soil and sea.
Utilities not directly affected by the seismic disaster have refrained from restarting reactors that were undergoing maintenance at the time, amid objections from local governments and a wave of anti-nuclear sentiment.
Only 19 of Japan's 54 reactors are now operating, with more due to shut down for regular checks soon, forcing companies and households to save power in the sweltering summer months.
In May, Naoto Kan, Japan's prime minister, told the operator of another quake and tsunami-prone plant, the ageing Hamaoka facility southwest of Tokyo, to shut down its reactors until it builds higher sea defences.
European fallout
In the wake of the Fukushima crisis, the European Union ordered stress tests for its 143 nuclear plants starting June 1, saying it would look at how they could withstand extreme and multiple disasters previously considered unthinkable.
The EU said the facilities would be checked for natural disasters such as quakes, floods and fires, as well as man-made disasters such as plane crashes and terrorist attacks, and combinations of such events.
Nuclear facilities are also to be tested for their resilience to extreme cold, extreme heat, snow, ice, storms, tornadoes, heavy rain and other extreme natural conditions.
The EU tests were to start with questionnaires to be checked by national regulators, followed by peer reviews among the 27 national authorities, of whom 14 have nuclear power and 13 do not.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Japan has said it will run "stress tests" on all its nuclear reactors in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi atomic accident sparked by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster.
The ongoing crisis, the world's worst atomic accident since Chernobyl 25 years ago, has ignited debate in Japan about the safety of nuclear power, which before the disaster accounted for one third of its electricity needs.
The centre-left government ordered a round of initial tests on the country's other atomic power plant after the disaster, and said on Wednesday the new stress tests aimed to reassure the public that the facilities are safe.
"The safety of nuclear power plants has been secured, but this is to gain a further sense of security among the people," Banri Kaieda, Japan's economy and industry minister, said.
He did not immediately give details of what the tests would entail or when they would start, saying only they would commence soon.
Triple disaster
Japan's nuclear crisis was sparked by a powerful 9.0 seabed quake, the country's biggest on record, that sent a massive tsunami barrelling into the northern Pacific coastline, shattering entire towns.
Amid a power blackout, the wave knocked out back-up generators, which disabled reactor cooling systems and led to meltdowns, explosions and continuing leakage of radiation into the air, soil and sea.
Utilities not directly affected by the seismic disaster have refrained from restarting reactors that were undergoing maintenance at the time, amid objections from local governments and a wave of anti-nuclear sentiment.
Only 19 of Japan's 54 reactors are now operating, with more due to shut down for regular checks soon, forcing companies and households to save power in the sweltering summer months.
In May, Naoto Kan, Japan's prime minister, told the operator of another quake and tsunami-prone plant, the ageing Hamaoka facility southwest of Tokyo, to shut down its reactors until it builds higher sea defences.
European fallout
In the wake of the Fukushima crisis, the European Union ordered stress tests for its 143 nuclear plants starting June 1, saying it would look at how they could withstand extreme and multiple disasters previously considered unthinkable.
The EU said the facilities would be checked for natural disasters such as quakes, floods and fires, as well as man-made disasters such as plane crashes and terrorist attacks, and combinations of such events.
Nuclear facilities are also to be tested for their resilience to extreme cold, extreme heat, snow, ice, storms, tornadoes, heavy rain and other extreme natural conditions.
The EU tests were to start with questionnaires to be checked by national regulators, followed by peer reviews among the 27 national authorities, of whom 14 have nuclear power and 13 do not.
Japan has said it will run "stress tests" on all its nuclear reactors in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi atomic accident sparked by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster.
The ongoing crisis, the world's worst atomic accident since Chernobyl 25 years ago, has ignited debate in Japan about the safety of nuclear power, which before the disaster accounted for one third of its electricity needs.
The centre-left government ordered a round of initial tests on the country's other atomic power plant after the disaster, and said on Wednesday the new stress tests aimed to reassure the public that the facilities are safe.
"The safety of nuclear power plants has been secured, but this is to gain a further sense of security among the people," Banri Kaieda, Japan's economy and industry minister, said.
He did not immediately give details of what the tests would entail or when they would start, saying only they would commence soon.
Triple disaster
Japan's nuclear crisis was sparked by a powerful 9.0 seabed quake, the country's biggest on record, that sent a massive tsunami barrelling into the northern Pacific coastline, shattering entire towns.
Amid a power blackout, the wave knocked out back-up generators, which disabled reactor cooling systems and led to meltdowns, explosions and continuing leakage of radiation into the air, soil and sea.
Utilities not directly affected by the seismic disaster have refrained from restarting reactors that were undergoing maintenance at the time, amid objections from local governments and a wave of anti-nuclear sentiment.
Only 19 of Japan's 54 reactors are now operating, with more due to shut down for regular checks soon, forcing companies and households to save power in the sweltering summer months.
In May, Naoto Kan, Japan's prime minister, told the operator of another quake and tsunami-prone plant, the ageing Hamaoka facility southwest of Tokyo, to shut down its reactors until it builds higher sea defences.
European fallout
In the wake of the Fukushima crisis, the European Union ordered stress tests for its 143 nuclear plants starting June 1, saying it would look at how they could withstand extreme and multiple disasters previously considered unthinkable.
The EU said the facilities would be checked for natural disasters such as quakes, floods and fires, as well as man-made disasters such as plane crashes and terrorist attacks, and combinations of such events.
Nuclear facilities are also to be tested for their resilience to extreme cold, extreme heat, snow, ice, storms, tornadoes, heavy rain and other extreme natural conditions.
The EU tests were to start with questionnaires to be checked by national regulators, followed by peer reviews among the 27 national authorities, of whom 14 have nuclear power and 13 do not.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.