Kan Orders Halt To Operations At Hamaoka Nuclear Plant

[robdogbucky]

Kan Orders Halt To Operations At Hamaoka Nuclear Plant
Saturday, May 7, 2011

TOKYO (Dow Jones)--Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan called Friday for a controversial nuclear power coastal plant located near an earthquake fault-line southwest of Tokyo to suspend its operations, reflecting a newly cautious stance toward the country's nuclear power facilities amid an ongoing crisis at the Fukushima nuclear complex crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Kan drew a clear link between the tsunami damage at the Fukushima Daiichi plant located about 135 miles northeast of Tokyo and the threat posed by a similar natural disaster in Hamaoka, which is nearly 117 kilometers southwest of the capitol. As a result of the tsunami, the Daiichi facility's reactors lost back-up power and overheated uncontrollably, releasing large amounts of radioactive substances.

"I have requested a suspension of operations at all reactors at Hamaoka for the safety and sense of security of the Japanese people," Kan said at an unscheduled news conference late Friday in Tokyo.

By taking a firm stand at odds with the plant's operator, Chubu Electric Power Co. (9502), Kan broke with a long-standing policy in Japan of treating problems at the country's nuclear power plants as isolated incidents. That may raise questions about the fate of other nuclear power facilities which critics say face similar quake-proofing issues, such as Onagawa plant in Miyagi prefecture that was shut down by the March 11 temblor and Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata prefecture, which was damaged by a 2007 earthquake...

http://e.nikkei.com/e/fr/tnks/Nni20110506D06JF946.htm

[dana_b]

1. at least a little good news coming from Japan

From Commondreams.org: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/05/06-1

"The relevant authorities, including the science ministry, have shown that the possibility of a magnitude-8.0 earthquake hitting the area of the Hamaoka plant within the next 30 years is 87 percent," the premier said.

a damn good reason to shut it down!!