A strong quake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.4 jolted on Thursday night Japan’s Miyagi Prefecture and its vicinity but no major troubles were reported at nuclear facilities in the areas devastated by the March 11 earthquake, including the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power station.
You can get quake details at Japan’s Meteorological Agency.
And the nuclear reactors:
At the Onagawa nuclear plant in Miyagi Prefecture, which has been suspended, two external power supply units among three have failed, according to the nuclear regulator.
Tohoku Electric said external power supply was disrupted at the No. 1 reactor of the Higashidori nuclear station. The emergency generator is being used to cool the spent fuel pool.
A Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency official said Friday that it appears that the reactor systems are basically working ‘‘as designed’’ because emergency diesel generators are operating in reactors that lost external power.
In the March 11 quake and ensuing tsunami, most of the backup diesel generators did not work at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, and thus resulted in the loss of the key cooling functions of the plant’s reactors.
In Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, external power supply was disrupted at the spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant of Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. The emergency generator is being used there.
Restoration work at the Fukushima Daiichi plant continued following the quake and no additional leaks of radioactive substances have been confirmed, TEPCO said.
This is all very serious. We’ve all been so focused on Fukushima Daiichi we’ve forgotten how so many other nuclear reactor power plants were hit. Rokkasho is a potentially big problem if they ever lost power there — they have perhaps 3000 tons of highly radioactive used nuclear fuel.
Some other stuff that happened:
1. There was a tsunami warning, but no tsunami materialized.
2. There were gas leaks, fires, and power outages.
3. Power outages lead to blackouts in many areas.
4. Seven people were injured.
5. Five units at three non-nuclear power plants were halted.
6. Some expressways and so on were closed for inspection.
Quotes taken from: 7.4 quake jolts Miyagi Pref, vicinity; tsunami warning lifted › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion.
