Quake intensity beyond projection hit 3 Fukushima reactors: data
Posted by JAC on 4/1/2011, 6:37 pm
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/82655.html


TOKYO, April 1, Kyodo

Three of the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant experienced a jolt stronger than a worst case projection when hit by Japan's largest-ever earthquake March 11, provisional data by the operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. showed Friday.

The data suggest that the intensity of the strongest earthquake projected could have been underestimated. The nuclear safety agency stopped short of describing the finding as a problem but urged the utility to analyze it in detail.

According to the data, the lowest underground levels of the Nos. 2, 3 and 5 reactor buildings faced a seismic movement of 550, 507 and 548 gals in the east-west direction, respectively, and each figure exceeded the projected level.

An official at the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said that exceeding the projection ''does not immediately mean that there is a problem in the safety'' of the buildings because they still have resilience.

But he added that the agency takes the fact seriously and will conduct a detail analysis of the quake record.

After the state revised its quake-resistance guidelines for nuclear power plants in 2006, the Daiichi power plant raised its potential intensity projection to 600 gals.

Based on the figure, the lowest underground levels of the Nos. 2, 3 and 5 reactor buildings are estimated to experience no more than 438, 441 and 452 gals in the east-west direction respectively.

According to the agency, seismic observations are conducted at 53 areas of the plant, but, as for the March 11 quake, only half of the data has been collected.

The agency said it will take several weeks to figure out the quake-triggered ground motions observed at the plant in the magnitude 9.0 quake, which has triggered the country's worst nuclear crisis.

==Kyodo
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