Sunday, July 17, 2016

Moderate Earthquake in Japan: Confusing Reports Regarding NPP Operations



The AP is reporting that there was a magnitude 5 earthquake near Tokyo, with the epicenter located underground 48 kilometers in Ibaraki prefecture. What is confusing about the press report is the assertion that a "nuclear power plant in the area suspended operations" according to the Asahi Shimbun:

AP. July 17, 2016. Quake jolts Tokyo region; no tsunami warning issued http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201607170020.html

The Japan Meteorological Agency says the quake hit midday Sunday with a magnitude of 5.... Japan's nuclear regulator says a nuclear power plant in the area suspended operations while it checked for any problems.
After reading this report I wondered WHICH NPP suspended operations because the official narrative is that ALL of Japan's NPPs are shutdown except the Sendai NPP.

Finding information today on the earthquake was challenging with only sparse reporting available (probably because the quake is relatively small).

Reuters reports that it was the Tokai NPP that was checked for damage:
Ayai Tomisawa and Paul Tait. July 17, 2016. Quake of magnitude 5.0 hits Tokyo and eastern Japan, no major damage. Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-quake-japan-idUSKCN0ZX03M 
Broadcaster NHK reported that the Tokai No. 2 nuclear power station, which has been shut since 2011, was checked for damage after the quake but none was found.

The content of these two news reports are inconsistent. The Asahi Shimbun reports that operations were SUSPENDED while Reuters reports that an idled plant was checked for damage.

I am not able to find any more information about what happened at Tokai but I am highly suspicious that the LDP has resumed uranium reprocessing or some other such activity at Tokai in secrecy as part of its nuclear "defense" capabilities.


Tokai isn't just another nuclear power plant. Tokai village is where Japan has extracted plutonium from used uranium fuel in its "reprocessing" operations for decades. Operations at Tokai were supposed to have been halted, after being moved to the Rokkasho plant (which may sit on an active fault). (background available here). But operations at Rokkaho have been delayed due to safety concerns.

There have been many strange news reports regarding Tokai over the years. Tokai was damaged in the 3/11 earthquake, with contaminated water leaks and a fire reported.

The IAEA conducted some sort of secretive "training" in Tokai in June of 2011. The nuclear material control center, which is located in Tokai, was hacked in 2016 and served as the launching point for cyber-attacks against other unnamed entities.

Perhaps the confusion over the "suspension of operations" at Tokai is accidental and attributable to poor reporting.

On the other hand, its possible that there are activities occurring at Tokai that have not been fully accounted for publicly.


RELATED POSTS


Majia's Blog: Tokai

May 19, 2012 - [MAJIA HERE] Second, Japan processed its plutonium at Tokai. Despite processing its own plutonium, in the early 1990s Japan started ...

Majia's Blog: IAEA "Training" in Tokai????

Jun 11, 2012 - [Excerpted] "An international study program on nuclear energy and the Fukushima accident has begun in Tokai village, north of Tokyo.

Majia's Blog: Tokai-Based Nuclear Material Control Center in Japan ...

May 20, 2016 - Tokai-Based Nuclear Material Control Center in Japan Used as "Relay Point in Cyber-Attack". Since details are missing, its hard to really ...

Majia's Blog: "Low-level radioactive water leaks at Tokai nuclear plant"

Mar 19, 2012 - TOKYO (Kyodo) -- [excerpted] "Some 1.5 tons of low-level radioactive water leaked from a storage tank of a nuclear reactor in the process of ...


Majia's Blog: Rokkasho and Nuclear (In)Security

Nov 8, 2015 - Nuclear is essential to the LDP security matrix, as illustrated by its efforts to resume nuclear enrichment processes at Rokkasho because of the ...
Feb 6, 2013 - Japan's new LDP government recently announced it would continue to reprocess nuclear fuel at the Rokkasho plant: Industry minister to ...
Apr 8, 2013 - Majia here: Japan shipped used nuclear fuel to the UK, beginning in 2010, for ... Majia's Blog: Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant (Which Produces .
Jun 18, 2012 - Majia here: So Japan had a lot of spent fuel and it had a lot of ... Call for an End to Plutonium Reprocessing and Closing the Rokkasho Plant” ...
Mar 24, 2014 - Yet, Japan wants to keep on processing plutonium at Rokkasho and ... Majia's Blog: Why does Japan's Plutonium Stockpiling Matter?
Jul 10, 2012 - See My blog post on Japan's stockpiling of plutonium ... [iii] Japan's newly completed Rokkasho reprocessing plant enables even greater ...

FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI


Looks slightly steam but otherwise ordinary in conditions today:








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