A magnitude 7.6 earthquake on Monday struck the Noto Peninsula in the northern part of Japan’s Ishikawa Prefecture. The shallow depth of the hypocenter, 10km, made for a destructive quake.
The Shika nuclear power plant in Ishikawa is the closest nuclear power facility to the epicenter, just 65km away. The strongest tremor — with a seismic intensity of 7, the highest on the Japan Meteorological Agency’s Shindo scale — was detected in Shika.
In the wake of the disaster, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida initiated measures to assess the state of the power plant. Fortunately, the plant’s two boiling water reactors have not shown any signs of damage.
Japan has ramped up maintenance and inspections of nuclear power plants since the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. As a nation that is no stranger to seismic activity, Taiwan should take a page out of Japan’s book.
On March 11, 2011, when the magnitude 9.1 earthquake struck east of Oshika Peninsula, the peak ground acceleration measured at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant was 550 galileo, while the seismic intensity was estimated at greater than 6. Multiple boiling water reactors were damaged in the plant, leading to a meltdown.
After the disaster, Japan shut numerous nuclear reactors, requiring that they pass stringent safety checks before being restarted.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK has reported that among the 33 operable nuclear reactors in Japan, 12 at six plants have resumed operations after meeting new safety standards, all of which are in the western region of the country. Ten of the reactors passed within two years, while two were added to the operational lineup last year.
All of the reactors are pressurized water reactors, just like the two reactors in the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County’s Ma-anshan (馬鞍山), which are structurally different from the reactors in the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster.
Aside from Okinawa, the stable supply of electricity in the rest of Japan has been severely strained, especially in densely populated Tokyo.
The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Nigata Prefecture was launched in 1996, with third-generation boiling water reactors as units six and seven, each capable of generating 1.356 gigawatts. After the plant submitted information on safety upgrades made across the site and at those two units, the Japanese Nuclear Regulation Authority lifted its operational ban.
Although Tokyo Electric Power Co received regulatory approval to restart the reactors, it must still obtain consent from local governments to resume operations. It is expected to receive approval to restart, at which point Japan would have 14 reactors generating electricity.
In Taiwan, nuclear power plants account for more than 10 percent of the nation’s electricity supply. As the government has some way to go before it completely replaces nuclear power plants with renewable energy sources — and as earthquakes could happen at any moment — Taiwan should use Monday’s earthquake as an opportunity to learn from Japan’s example.
It can always start by conducting strict inspections to confirm reactor safety and require adjustments to further improve safety at power stations.
Lai Ming-huang is an engineer with a doctorate from National Cheng Kung University and is a former Directorate-General of Highways regional engineering department head.
Translated by Rita Wang
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