New Year’s quake in Japan: Three-meter high waves recorded near nuclear power plant

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Metre-high tsunami waves were recorded near a nuclear power plant shortly after Japan’s devastating New Year’s Day earthquake, new information shows. As operator Hokuriku Electric announced on Wednesday, “three-meter high waves” were measured near the Shika factory shortly after the earthquake. This caused no damage.

According to Hokuriku Electric, the information about the tsunami waves is only now available – more than a week after the earthquake – because the data had to first be extracted from a measuring device on the high seas. After the earthquake it no longer sent measurement data.

Earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5

The company’s announcement once again highlighted the risks to nuclear power plants from earthquakes and tsunamis. The earthquake had already caused damage to other reactors on Japan’s west coast, such as leakage of cooling water or a partial power outage. However, the operators assure that no damage has been caused to the nuclear reactors themselves or to the environment.

The Shika nuclear power plant in the south of the Noto Peninsula is eleven meters above sea level and is also protected by a four-meter high dike that was built after the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2011.

The Japanese main island of Honshu was rocked on New Year’s Day by a major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 on the Richter scale and dozens of aftershocks and hit by tsunami waves. Numerous houses have collapsed or been damaged on the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture. Streets became impassable and a major fire destroyed a historic market district in the port city of Wajima.

Commemoration of the Fukushima disaster

According to preliminary official information, at least 203 people have been killed. On Tuesday evening, 68 people were still missing. Nearly 3,500 people became further cut off from the outside world and almost 30,000 people were accommodated in emergency shelter. In addition, almost 60,000 households still had no running water and more than 15,000 households had no electricity.

In March 2011, the east coast of Japan was hit by a major earthquake and tsunami. 18,000 people died as a result of the natural disaster. It also resulted in the failure of the cooling system of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, and a meltdown occurred in three of the six reactors. (AFP)

Source: Blick