Powerful quake in Japan reawakens concerns about nuclear power safety

There are no safety issues at the Shika nuclear plant, Japan's Hokuriku Electric Power Company said on Tuesday, a day after an earthquake struck the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan.

Although radioactive leaks were found at the plant, with 95 liters of nuclear water leaking in the No. 1 reactor building and 326 liters leaking in the No. 2 reactor building, the company said the leak was inside the reactor buildings and caused no external impact. 

On January 1, 2024, an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.6 struck central Japan, triggering tsunami warnings from Hokkaido to Kyushu, including a major tsunami warning for Ishikawa Prefecture, and led to evacuations in nine prefectures. After the earthquake, Japan stepped up monitoring of nuclear power plants in surrounding prefectures. 

According to the Nuclear Regulation Authority on Monday, there are no signs of issues at Kansai Electric Power Company's Oi, Mihama and Takahama nuclear plants in Fukui Prefecture or Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture.

Although the plant has so far escaped damage, the powerful earthquake and tsunami warnings in Japan once again sparked public concern about the safety of nuclear power after the 2011 Fukushima earthquake triggered a nuclear disaster.

Although Japanese nuclear power plants are designed to withstand specified earthquake intensities, when the intensity of an earthquake is much higher than the standard, it can lead to a nuclear accident due to strong tremors and secondary disasters such as tsunamis and fires caused by the earthquake. 

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude-9.0 earthquake struck off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture in Japan. An earthquake-triggered tsunami engulfed TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, causing core meltdowns in units one to three and leading to a nuclear crisis.

Despite raging opposition from home and abroad, Japan began dumping the nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the ocean on August 24 last year. So far, it has completed three releases, with cumulative water exceeding 23,000 tonnes. The fourth release will start in late February, with a total amount of 7,800 tonnes.

Currently, 12 of the 33 nuclear reactors have officially restarted operations since 2011, and five of them have received permission to restart and are undergoing final preparations, according to Argus Media. Eight reactors are currently under inspection, and the remaining eight are not yet ready for safety review.