Additional nuclear facilities lose primary power due to powerful aftershock in Japan
April 7, 2011
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Bloomberg Businessweek has reported that it may be too soon to tell if the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant survived the latest 7.1 magnitude aftershock unscathed, and that "The main fear is more structural damage." Additional nuclear power and radioactive waste facilities in Japan, however, did lose power from the electrical grid and have been forced to rely on backup power systems such as emergency diesel generators. The article reports that "The Rokkasho nuclear-fuel reprocessing plant and the Higashidori nuclear power plant lost power and were operating on backup diesel generators, the [Japanese federal] nuclear safety agency said today in a statement. Two of three power lines to the Onagawa nuclear power plant also were disabled, it said." Rokkasho, on the very northern tip of the main island of Japan, includes a high-level radioactive waste storage pool holding thousands of tons of ultra-hazardous irradiated nuclear fuel. Higashidori, not far from Rokkasho, currently has one operating atomic reactor, although three more are planned for the site. Onagawa, not far to the north of Fukushima Daiichi, has three operating reactors; it was initially plunged into crisis during the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Article originally appeared on Beyond Nuclear (https://archive.beyondnuclear.org/).
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