Japan Fukushima nuclear power station was certified proof aganist tsunamis
2/6/2011 New Scientist Fukushima was certified tsunami-proof.Brief it was, but the plan to protect Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant from a tsunami was certainly not to the point. TEPCO, the plant’s operator, ruled out the possibility of tsunami damage in a one-page memo filed to the Japanese regulator a decade ago, the Associated Press has discovered. The plant made headlines in March when it was damaged by a tsunami that followed a magnitude 9.0 quake.
Such an omission is “clearly absurd”, says Martyn Thomas at the Royal Academy of Engineering in London – especially given Fukushima’s location on an earthquake-prone coast.
As a result of events at Fukushima, Germany this week announced plans to close all 17 of its nuclear reactors by 2022. It will make up the power shortfall through investment in solar and wind – although Stephan Köhler, head of Germany’s energy agency, warned last year that over-reliance on intermittent solar power might crash Germany’s grid.
Go to: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20524-fukushima-was-certified-tsunamiproof.html