The Hamaoka nuclear power plant may not be as well known around the world as Fukushima Daichi, crippled by the March 11 disasters. But the complex that Prime Minister Naoto Kan ordered closed down Friday is extremely well known in Japan. In fact, it’s infamous.
The plant, operated by Chubu Electric Power Co., is sited on Japan’s east coast, about 200 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, by Omaezaki city in Shizuoka prefecture. Omaezaki is known for its fishing and its green tea. And also for being sited pretty much, some say, on the fault line in the area that would be hit by the next, historically overdue “Tokai earthquake” – a long-feared “Big One” that could wreak havoc in the Kanto region that includes the capital.
Hamaoka is so well known, in fact, that it has an exhibition center that attracts visitors to a lifesize model of a reactor vessel, complete with descending rods and impressive flashing lights (with thanks to YouTuber OtakuEmpire). True to form, the exhibit also features a video where a cute cartoon bird, complete with snorkel, swims around reactor water and explains exactly how nuclear fission works.
Named for the region that’s home to Shizuoka, Tokai quakes typically occur every 100 to 150 years, scientists say. The last hope was in 1854, and its magnitude was 8.4. Little surprise, then, that Hamaoka has been a focal point for anti-nuclear protest in Japan over the years since construction started in the 1970s, and Japan’s biggest-ever nuclear crisis at Fukushima Daiichi – 200 kilometers from Tokyo in the opposite direction – has stoked fears anew.
A victory of sorts for Japan’s anti-nuclear protesters? Perhaps, but Mr. Kan’s move to halt all operations at Hamaoka might be more welcome were it not due to concerns about the plant’s preparedness for a major earthquake. That and the small matter of a chilling calculation he passed on Friday: the country’s Science Ministry estimates there’s an 87% chance of a magnitude 8 earthquake in the region over the next 30 years.
Mr. Kan said the shutdowns would be in effect until appropriate safety measures can be taken, but gave no timeframe. Dramatic as the next Tokai quake prediction may be, the fact is that Japan has long lived with it. The area’s been under special observation since the early 1970s, and the Japan Meteorological Agency maintains a permanent monitoring service using the best technology available to it: there’s no current sign of anything “anomalous” going on.
For its part, Hamaoka’s operator Chubu Electric says its nuclear plants are built to have three times the earthquake resistance specified in Japan’s building standards. And “doors to reactor buildings, which house facilities critical to safety, are built to be waterproof. Therefore the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station is sufficiently safe during tsunamis,” the company says.
For the latest news and analysis, follow @WSJAsia