19 Aug (NucNet): An earthquake off the coast of Japan’s Fukushima prefecture today had no significant impact on nuclear power plants in the region, or on the provisional cooling and other measures under way at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant, the country’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) said.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.3 on the Richter scale. USGS said the quake occurred at 07:36 Central European Time, with its epicentre at a depth of nearly 44 kilometres (km), 113 km east of Fukushima and 283 km north-east of Tokyo.
According to the Pacific tsunami warning network, no tsunami was expected beyond 100 km of the epicenter.
Separately, the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF) said today that the Tokyo Electric Power Company was to start using a “new Japan-made decontamination unit” at Fukushima-Daiichi.
JAIF said operation of the unit, which absorbs caesium and other radioactive substances, follows a successful test run that began on 16 August 2011. JAIF said cleaning radioactive water in a stable manner is among the most pressing issues at Fukushima-Daiichi, where an earthquake and tsunami last March knocked out power and cooling.
>>Related reports in the NucNet database (available to subscribers)
Japan Releases 750-Page Report Into Fukushima-Daiichi Accident (News in Brief No. 134, 7 June 2011)
Japan Ready To Lift Fukushima-Daiichi Evacuation Orders (News in Brief No. 171, 9 August 2011)
