Japan’s Kepco Restarts Takahama No. 4 Reactor Despite Protest

Japan Restarts 4th Nuclear Reactor

Osaka-based Kansai Electric Power Co. (KEPCO) restarted its Takahama No. 4 reactor located in Fukui Prefecture on Wednesday about 14 months after it was forced to shut it down, bringing to four the number of reactors now operating in Japan.

“The No. 4 reactor was turned back on at 5 p.m. today. It’s an important step, but it’s not the end. We’ll proceed with operations carefully, with an attitude of always having safety as the top priority,” said KEPCO President.

Takahama nuclear power plant, located in the town of Takahama, Ōi District, Fukui Prefecture, is owned and operated by KEPCO. The plant has four pressurized water reactors with electricity generating capacity at 3,392 MW, and previously (2006-2010) averaged annual production of 22,638 GWh.

Japan’s Nuclear Industry: Mega Disaster in the Making

FIRE-EARTH Editorial on the third month anniversary of Japan’s triple disaster and its triple nuclear reactor core meltdown

Today is the third month anniversary of the Tohoku Mega Quake [Great East Japan Earthquake] that shook the country off its rickety foundation.

In the past three months the world has learned that more than ever before Japan’s doomed Fukushima NPP and all of its other nuclear plants pose an existential threat to the entire region and beyond.

In the hand of the Japanese ruling elite who own, operate and invariably fail to safeguard the country’s nuclear industry, the atomic plants have turned into weapons of mass destruction.

Japan’s ruling elite are the remnants of the same diabolic regime that painted the entire region red with human blood in the last century.

Japan MUST now be disarmed and its nuclear “weapons” removed BEFORE the next Mega Quake strikes the country.

The world community must force Japanese authorities to decommission all of their nuclear power plants forthwith.

From 2011 Disaster Calendar – June Entry

• [June 7, 2011]  Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.  SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,744 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History

• Japan. The ever-conspiring Japanese nuke officials have doubled estimate for the radiation that escaped from the doomed Fukushima NPP soon after the March 11 mega quake and tsunami from 370,000 terabecquerels to 770,000 terabecquerels, a report said. More people will have to be evacuated.
• As FIRE-EARTH had suspected, complete core meltdown occurred at all three working Reactors 1, 2 and 3 at Fukushima NPP, with massive amounts of radiation penetrating the earth below. (See links below).

Probability of a Nuclear Disaster by Country

The following probability figures are calculated by FIRE-EARTH on April 8, 2011

• Japan (880)³
• United States (865)
• Taiwan (850)
• Belgium, China, France, Finland, India,  South Korea, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Russia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Armenia, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania,  Hungary, Bulgaria, Spain,  Pakistan, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico,  South Africa, Canada (810)
• Germany, Sweden, Netherlands (800)
• Switzerland  (750)

Notes:

1. The list represents a snapshot of events at the time of calculating the probabilities. Any forecast posted  here is subject to numerous variable factors.
2. Figures in the bracket represent the probability of an incident occurring out of 1,000; the forecast duration is valid for the next 50  months.
3. Probability includes a significant worsening of Fukushima nuclear disaster, and future quakes forecast for Japan.
4. A nuclear incident is defined as a level 5 (Accident With Wider Consequences), or worse, on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES). See below.
5. Safety issues considered in compiling these lists include the age, number of units and capacity of nuclear reactors in each country/state, previous incidents, probability of damage from human-enhanced natural disasters, e.g., earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic activity, hurricanes, tornadoes, storms, wildfires, flooding… ]
6. The  Blog’s knowledge concerning the extent to which the factors described in (3) might worsen during the forecast period greatly influences the forecast.

Related Links

• Japan Earthquakes, Disasters: Recent History and FIRE-EARTH Forecasts