Quake revives fears over Japan's nuclear industry
TOKYO (Reuters) - An earthquake-triggered leak and fire at the world's biggest nuclear plant have renewed safety fears in energy-hungry Japan, which relies on nuclear technology for about a third of its electricity.
But anxiety over quakes as well as past accidents and cover-ups is unlikely to derail Japan's nuclear energy programme, often touted as a way of keeping down emissions of the gases that cause global warming.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. only announced that 1,200 liters of radioactive water had sloshed into the sea from its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant late on Monday, after first saying the lethal earthquake that hit the region at 10:13 a.m. had not caused any leaks.
The incident drew a harsh response from top government officials, who said TEPCO's response had been slow.
"I believe that nuclear power plants can only be operated with the trust of the people," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters.
"For this, if something happens they need to report on it thoroughly and quickly. We need to get them to strictly reflect on this incident," he added.
TEPCO, Asia's biggest utility, said the quake was bigger than it had planned for, but that there was no effect on the environment from Monday's leak and that it was well within government-permitted radiation limits.
But the delayed reporting of the incident may add to mistrust after TEPCO and another electric power firm admitted this year that they had covered up "criticality" incidents -- unintended self-sustaining nuclear fission chain reactions -- in the past.
Further information trickled out on Tuesday, when the company said small amounts of radioactive materials -- cobalt-60, iodine and chromium-51 -- had been emitted into the atmosphere. But a trade ministry official said the amounts were too small to pose an environmental threat.
About 100 drums containing low-level nuclear waste were knocked over by the quake and some lost their lids, Kyodo news service said on Tuesday.
SHAKEN TRUST
A previous scandal over fudged safety inspections shook public faith in the industry five years ago.
"It's the kind of thing that could happen at any time. But I am surprised that they don't make proper preparations for earthquakes," said Baku Nishio of the Citizen's Nuclear Information Centre, a group that campaigns against nuclear power.
"Japan is particularly prone to earthquakes, so I think it's a major problem," he added.
Japan is one of the world's most seismically active countries, and a tremor occurs at least every five minutes. Continued...
