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Japan reports small leak at quake-hit nuclear plant
Tokyo (AFP) Aug 20, 2009 A small radioactive leak was detected at a Japanese nuclear power plant after a strong earthquake struck the region last week, the operator said Thursday. Chubu Electric Power Co. said it detected "a slightly higher level" of the radioactive element iodine 131 in an exhaust filter, but added that the amount was so small that "it would not harm human health". A magnitude 6.4 quake hit August 11 in Suruga Bay on the Pacific Ocean coast, leaving one person dead and 120 injured while damaging thousands of buildings and forcing two nuclear reactors to shut down automatically. The operator reported no major incidents after the quake at the Hamaoka nuclear plant, located on a peninsula jutting into Suruga Bay. But the company said it had detected a slightly higher level of iodine 131 from a filter removed from an exhaust tower for one of the reactors. It said the concentration was so low that, even over the span of one year, the radioactivity would have reached only one 20,000th of the level considered safe for people. The company said it was studying whether the leak was caused by the quake. Japan, which has the world's second largest economy but virtually no energy deposits, relies on nuclear power for about one third of its electricity demand and aims to boost the figure to 40 percent by 2010. Japan is hit by about 20 percent of the world's major earthquakes. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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Turkey casts doubt on nuclear plant projectAnkara (AFP) Aug 19, 2009 Turkey's energy minister highlighted Wednesday problems in a tender won by a Russian company to build the country's first nuclear power plant amid media reports that Ankara could cancel the project. A consortium led by Atomstroyexport, Russia's state nuclear giant, was the only bidder in the tender last year and the government -- unhappy with the financial terms -- is yet to decide whether ... read more |
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