Redefined 'Active Fault' Could Force Closure of World's Biggest Nuclear Plant in Japan

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority is planning to redefine the meaning of 'active fault' (a crack in the earth's crust) as one that has moved anytime in the last 400,000 years. This is a major extension, as the current limit is set at 120,000 to 130,000 years. Prior to 2006, only faults that had moved in the last 50,000 years were considered active.

These new limits may force the shutdown of the world's largest nuclear plant, the 7,965-megawatt (MW) Kashiwazaki-Kariwa (KK), where two faults, known as alpha and beta, run directly under the plant's No. 1 reactor.

The plant has been dogged by safety doubts and problems for years. In 2007, it was completely shut down for almost two years following an offshore earthquake. It has not operated at full design capacity since that time. The plant was damaged during the 2011 earthquake, which caused a fire and radiation leaks. The plant's seven nuclear reactors were damaged. Experts have warned that a magnitude 8.0 earthquake along the fault lines could cause a major disaster, whatever safety precautions are adopted.

Now in the shadow of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), also the operator of Fukushima, is coming under pressure to close down KK.

In the past, TEPCO maintained that neither fault line had moved for between 120,000 and 240,000 years, although geological experts doubted the company's report. TEPCO then undertook a further study to date the fault lines. The results from this study are due for release in February. New regulations will come into force in July, after which all nuclear plants will be re-evaluated. No final decisions on the fate of plant will be taken until the new rules are implemented.

For related information, see January 23, 2013, article - Impending Rules and 'Long-Term' Shutdowns Confuse Japan's Nuclear Sector, and December 17, 2012, article - Power Tariff Increases of More than 30% are Possible if Japan's Reactors Stay Idled.

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