Despite a powerful earthquake that visibly shook a nuclear power plant in western Japan, its owners say it is working ‘as normal.’
An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.2 hit Shimane Nuclear Power Station’s premises in Japan’s Chugoku region, followed by a series ofaftershocks.
Surveillance camera footage showed the nuclear power station shaking when the earthquake hit at around 10.18am local time.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said the first earthquake’s epicentre was in eastern Shimane prefecture, but there was no danger of a tsunami.
There were five minor injuries in Shimane and one in Tottori prefecture.
Chugoku Electric Power, which operates the plant, said operations were continuing as normal as Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority reported no irregularities after the quake.
In December 2024, the plant’s No.2 unit restarted for the first time since all of the country’s nuclear power plants were shut down in the aftermath of the March 2011 disasters in Fukushima.
What were the Fukushima disasters?
On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 undersea earthquake hit Japan’s northeastern coast, sparking a massive tsunami that left 19,000 people dead or missing.
The 15-metre tsunami disabled the power supply and cooling of three Fukushima Daiichi (nuclear plant) reactors, causing a nuclear accident.
All three cores largely melted in the first three days in an accident rated a level 7 on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale.
In the small town of Namie, all residents were evacuated.
Official figures show that there have been more than 2,000 disaster-related deaths among the evacuees from the Fukushima prefecture.
The quake, which had a seismic intensity of an upper-5 on the country’s 1-7 scale, was strong enough to make movement difficult without support.
West Japan Railway said it had suspended Shinkansen bullet-train operations between Shin-Osaka and Hakata after the earthquake.
Japan is one of the world’s most seismically active areas and accounts for about one-fifth of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude six or higher.
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