Last November, we told you about how the employees at the Onagawa nuclear energy facility in Japan played a critical role in sheltering local residents in the aftermath of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that struck the island nation.
While the Onagawa facility remains safely shut down, its employees are still at work preparing for the day when the plant may come back online. In this video report from NHK World, Onagawa’s employees are participating in a tsunami drill using new equipment acquired in the aftermath of the accident at Fukushima. In other news, a delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency will be visiting Onagawa next week to begin a seismic inspection.
The following news article originally appeared in NEI’s Nuclear Energy Overview.
A new Japanese government investigation of the Fukushima accident says that national and local organizations were ill-prepared for a large-scale and complex natural disaster such as last year’s earthquake and tsunami, leading to more severe accident consequences than would otherwise have been the case.
The study was commissioned in May 2011 by the cabinet and is the latest of several investigations into the accident that have been conducted in Japan by, among others, Fukushima operator Tokyo Electric Power Co., the country’s parliament and its nuclear regulator. Read More »
Kansai Electric Power Co. last week restarted a second reactor at its Ohi nuclear energy facility in Fukui prefecture. The company said Ohi reactor 4 should reach full power this week. Reactor 3, the first in the country to restart since the Fukushima accident, attained full power operations July 9. The government said it planned to partially lift power-saving restrictions in western Japan though it still would encourage voluntary measures especially if summer temperatures are above normal. Read More »
The following story originally appeared in NEI’s Nuclear Energy Overview.
NEI and NRC representatives told a National Academy of Sciences panel that the industry is making steady progress in implementing lessons learned from the Fukushima Daiichi accident. The NAS is conducting a technical study of the accident, sponsored by the NRC.
NEI President and CEO Marvin Fertel said that the industry’s primary lesson learned is to ensure the continued availability of electricity and cooling water at nuclear energy facility sites in the aftermath of a severe event. Read More »
“We cannot overstate the importance of this step by TEPCO,” said Steve Kraft, NEI’s senior director for Fukushima response coordination and strategy. “It not only demonstrates progress in beginning to remove the accumulated nuclear fuel in the damaged plants (particularly from reactor 4), but the new fuel assemblies will also be analyzed to provide information on the used fuel that will be invaluable in the effort to remove the used fuel.” Read More »
Taking Action To Boost Safety at U.S. Nuclear Energy Facilities
Through its relentless commitment to the pursuit of excellence in operations, the U.S. nuclear industry is taking significant action to ensure that each of the nation’s 104 nuclear plants operate safely and securely.
Safe, clean, reliable electricity to power America.