Wednesday 6 July 2011

Japan will ‘stress test’ nuclear plants

Japan will ‘stress test’ nuclear plants

Japan will stress test all of its nuclear plants to prevent another nuclear incident like Fukushima, its Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry has announced.

The country suffered a triple disaster after a 9-magnitude earthquake hit the country on March 11, causing a tsunami that damaged the reactors at the Fukushima Dai-chi nuclear power plant.

Japanese minister Banri Kaieda said the safety checks were designed to "reassure" the people of Japan, reported Jiji Press.

The tests will follow the example of EU stress tests in the wake of Fukushima, which began on 1 June and will conclude in April 2012.

All nuclear plants in the EU will undergo checks to see if they are properly prepared for natural disasters like earthquakes or flooding, as well as manmade failures like airplane crashes or explosions near to nuclear sites.Plants will have to prove that they have enough back-up power systems in place in case the energy supply is interrupted.

Related stories:

Building a nuclear reactor after Fukushima(ELN TV)

Japan "underestimated" tsunami hazard to nuclear

Fukushima fallout revealed

Written by

Bruna Pinhoni

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