IAEA to Issue New Report on Quake-hit Japan Nuclear Plant

By: Staff Writers
Date: Dec 5, 2008
Source: Vienna (AFP) (www.nuclearpowerdaily.com)

The United Nations' nuclear watchdog said Friday would publish the findings next month of its latest inspection of the world's largest nuclear power station after it was hit by an earthquake in July 2007.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement that a team of 10 experts had now returned from their third trip to the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Japan to assess the impact of the July 16, 2007 earthquake, which measured 6.8 on the Richter scale.

The seven-unit power station automatically closed down its reactors when the earthquake hit and has remained shut since then.

The temblor's epicentre was just 16 kilometres (10 miles) away.

The IAEA-led team visited the plant December 1-5 and would now submit a report to the Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) before it was made publicly available in January 2009, the statement said.

The IAEA conducted two previous missions to the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in August 2007 and January-February 2008.

During the latest trip, "the mission received further evidence confirming the findings of previous missions regarding the safe performance of the plant during and after the earthquake," the UN watchdog said.

The plant's owners, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, has said that water containing only a small amount of radiation leaked into the Sea of Japan (East Sea) after the earthquake, and that radioactive particles blew out of an exhaust pipe filter.

But the utility came under criticism for initially under-reporting the severity of the incident.

Japan, one of the world's most earthquake-prone nations, relies on nuclear stations for nearly one-third of its power needs.