Published: July 3rd, 2012 at 10:57 am ET
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Subscription Only: Report on Nuclear Disaster Holds Key to Japan Reactors’ Fate
Wall Street Journal
By MITSURU OBE
July 2, 2012
[...]Scientists also say there are other reactors in Japan that are more vulnerable to earthquakes than Fukushima Daiichi.
The Bay of Wakasa, on the coast of the central Japanese prefecture of Fukui, has 13 commercial reactors in a 60-kilometer (37-mile) stretch known as the “nuclear corridor,” including the two in Oi that the government recently ordered to restart.
Dominated by ragged shorelines with few roads, the area is prone to earthquakes. In 1948, a magnitude-7.1 jolt hit Fukui prefecture, killing 3,700 people. In 2000, a magnitude-7.3 earthquake hit just south of the bay in Tottori prefecture, destroying hundreds of homes.
The area sits next to what some seismologists call the “Devil’s Triangle,” where the northern and southern halves of the Japanese archipelago meet, creating a concentration of active fault lines. “How could we have built so many nuclear plants in such a place?” says Kiyoo Mogi, professor emeritus of Tokyo University and the former head of the government’s earthquake prediction committee.
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Published: July 3rd, 2012 at 10:57 am ET
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"Dominated by ragged shorelines with few roads" sounds like an excellent condition to perform evacuations and disaster management if there's a out-of-control nuclear power plant around.
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It is, perhaps, a bit like eating fugu, which requires a licensed chef to cook legally, because it will kill you if it is prepared improperly.
People who feel very depressed sometimes eat fugu to tempt fate.
Perhaps the government of Japan is depressed.
But if that is the problem, it would be kinder to everyone else if they forgot nuclear power and simply ordered a whole lot of fugu.
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A Nuclear "pact" with the devil.
Another Faustian bargin.
GO JAPAN!
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This is the yard stick for nuclear decision making world wide. They make the decision to protect vested interests rather then safeguard the planet. Decisions like this are made all over the world…..
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Reactors near the Devil’s triangle is gambling with peoples lives. Again.
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Perfect area for geothermal and the higher power deside to build nuclear, is their any logic out their or truth be known governments want by products and business man wants cash, you will burn for this.
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Good point, weeman.
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So many where built in that area because it is not safe to do but costs much less. All plants may of saved TEPCO $3 Billion US$ dollars. It is a great deal for TEPCO's investors and plant contractors/Designers/Bankers. This such a good deal that they are restarting plants with less safety. they will all make more money as they turn on these old plants that have had the shit shaken out of them ready to blow at any time.
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Kiyoo Mogi, ah …. He must be the one who discovered the Mogi circle as a means of earthquake prediction.
A hypothesis or theory of Dr. Mogi's is, earthquake swarms will form in a roughly circular configuration around the epicenter of a coming earthquake. 'First heard of Dr. Mogi when I belonged to an earthquake prediction group online.
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That is, the swarms of small earthquakes or precursor tremors will trace a roughly circular line around the epicenter of a coming earthquake.
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