Introduction to Earthquakes and Nuclear Safety
The magnitude 6.8 earthquake that occurred in Niigata provide, Japan on 16 July 2007 has raised concerns about the safety of nuclear power plants during earthquakes.
This web site sets out how nuclear facilities are designed to deal with the effects of earthquakes safely. Even, as in the case of the
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa
nuclear power plant, where the earthquake was stronger than expected, the nuclear reactors that were in operation shut down safely as was planned.
There have also been concerns over the impact of a small quantity of weakly radioactive water that was discharged to the sea from the
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa
site as a result of the earthquake and over the toppling of drums containing solid low-level waste. This site explains why the discharge of the water was within authorized limits and why neither event caused any environmental harm.
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