Nuclear doubts spread in wake of Niigata

Global competition for energy resources and tougher controls on greenhouse gas emissions have made Japan reliant on nuclear power. While the government and regional power utilities are quick to associate the word “safety” with atomic energy, several fatalities, accidents, coverups and earthquake threats have damaged the industry’s image.

This is the first in a series asking whether, in the wake of July’s massive quake just 9 km from the world’s largest nuclear plant, it still makes sense for such a seismically active country to rely so much on the power of the atom.


Hiroaki Koide of Kyoto University warns that a major earthquake near the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant in Shizuoka Prefecture could trigger destruction on the scale of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and cause millions of casualties.

And despite the government’s repeated assurance that the July 16 magnitude-6.8 temblor that hit Niigata Prefecture caused no severe damage to the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, the reactor expert reckons nothing is absolute when it comes to atomic plant safety.

“The (damage) at Kashiwazaki could have been much worse,” said Koide, an assistant professor at Research Reactor Institute. “The reported troubles only proved this country’s policies need to change.”

Japan Times