Fukushima was affected by another earthquake, and some shortcomings of nuclear plants were reported

A 7.3-magnitude earthquake caused some deficiencies in two of the three nuclear power plants (NPPs) located in relative close proximity to the fault, but did not cause any safety concerns, according to the Japan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA).

The earthquake occurred about 60 kilometers off the coast of Japan on March 16 at 2:36 pm UTC. Affected nuclear power plants include the Fukushima Daiichi facility, the site of the infamous nuclear disaster in February 2011. Other facilities potentially at risk include the Fukushima Daiichi and Onagawa Nuclear Power Plants.

At the Daiichi site, hundreds of earthquake-qualified tanks store treated water from the 2011 accident. The earthquake has reportedly moved some of these tanks up to 10 centimeters in strength, but there was no leak, according to the NRA. Also at the Daiichi site, a cooling pump for the spent fuel sump in Unit 5 temporarily stopped working, but later operation was resumed and cooling functions were maintained on site, according to the regulator.

At the Daiini site, located about 11 kilometers south of the Daiichi site in Fukushima Prefecture, spent fuel-pooling pumps for Units 1 and 3 were stopped for a while, but are said to have been restored to service. One of the four transmission lines that power the Daiini site was lost as a result of the earthquake. However, the remaining three transmission lines were said to be sufficient to maintain the stability of the power plant. No damage was reported at the Onagawa station.

Both Daiichi and Daiini facilities are shut down. Tohoku Electric Power, operator of the three-unit Onagawa plant, decided in 2018 to decommission Unit 1, but has continued to strive to restart Unit 2 again. In November 2020, the company received approval from Murray Yoshihiro, Governor of Miyagi Prefecture, to restart the unit, apparently slated to do so sometime this year. The company was also considering restarting Unit 3 in the future. It is unclear whether yesterday’s earthquake will change any of those plans.

Onagawa was actually closer than the Daiichi factory to the epicenter of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake – less than half the distance. The earthquake destroyed four of Onagawa’s five external power lines, but the remaining line provided enough power for the three boiling water reactors (BWRs) to be cold shutdown. The Onagawa plant was also affected by the Miyagi earthquake, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake in August 2005. Vibrations larger than designed were reportedly recorded at the plant, but post-event analysis found no damage to the reactor systems.

None of the Onagawa units has been in operation since February 2011. If Unit 2 is restarted, it will be the first BWR operating in Japan since the Fukushima accident. Daiichi units were also BWRs.

—Aaron Larson is the Executive Editor of POWER (AaronL_Power, @POWERmagazine).

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