Fears of power shortage as another leak found at Japan nuclear power plant

 

KASHIWAZAKI, Japan: Leaks at an earthquake-battered nuclear power plant continued undetected even as officials assured the public that the damage posed no outside danger, it was learned Thursday, casting deep doubts on the plant's emergency measures and the response by Japan's largest power company.

The indefinite shutdown of the plant also raised serious fears of a summer power shortage.

Officials at Tokyo Electric Power Co. confirmed Thursday that radioactive material was leaking as late as Wednesday night, two days after the plant suffered a near-direct hit by Monday's quake, which killed 10 people and injured more than 1,000 in Kashiwazaki, a seaside town on Japan's northern coast.

They stressed the amounts were extremely low and posed no threat to the environment or local residents. But the announcement of the leak came a day after officials issued similar assurances about other damage at the plant — including a fire, burst pipes and waste spillage.

The seven reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant — the world's largest in terms of output capacity — shut down automatically when the quake hit, and the plant has been ordered closed indefinitely while inspections and repairs are carried out to assure it can be restarted safely.

TEPCO has warned the closure of the key nuclear reactor could trigger a power shortage in the summer months. The Tokyo-based company has asked six other power companies in Japan to consider providing emergency electricity to prepare for a surge in demand as people turn up their air conditioners in the summer heat.

All six companies said they would cooperate in providing power and TEPCO is also considering restarting oil and gas plants, TEPCO officials said late Thursday.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki urged the operators of Japan's 55 nuclear reactors — which supply one-third of Japan's energy — to speed up safety checks for earthquake resistance, a top concern in the temblor-prone nation.

"Since there was such a huge earthquake that surpassed our expectations, we need to consider future measures for quake resistance," Shiozaki said. "I asked them to speed up the assessment and checkups wherever possible."

Officials at the plant admitted they had not foreseen such a powerful temblor hitting the facility.

They repeatedly underreported its impact after it hit as well.

After initially saying the quake had caused 50 separate types of minor damage or leaks, TEPCO upped that estimate to 63.

Also Thursday, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said radioactive iodine had leaked from an exhaust pipe at the No. 7 reactor between Tuesday and Wednesday night, agency official Hisanori Nei said.

TEPCO had already announced the release of other radioactive materials from the exhaust vent, possibly because a fan inside the building was not turned off as instructed in an operation manual, TEPCO spokesman Manabu Takeyama said.

The inspectors concluded the leak was too small to harm the environment or public health, Nei said, adding the agency will continue monitoring.

Members of a separate panel, the Nuclear Safety Commission, also toured the plant on Thursday and criticized TEPCO for missteps in its response.

Even so, they concluded none of the errors threatened public health.

"The safety of ... (the) plant was fundamentally maintained and we avoided the serious consequences of a nuclear accident," commission Chairman Atsuyuki Suzuki said in a statement. "The list of problems announced by TEPCO have no serious effect on the safety of the reactor."

TEPCO has been punished for failing to accurately inform the public of problems before.

In 2003, TEPCO was forced to halt all of its 17 nuclear reactors after admitting it had misreported safety problems in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The halt caused a shortage of power in the summer of 2003, and other companies provided emergency electricity.

A trade ministry report revealed 29 cases of cracks or minor structural damage in eight of the company's nuclear reactors, including two reactors at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa. The company's top three officials resigned over the scandal, and authorities raided its Tokyo headquarters. TEPCO contended the cracks never posed any serious danger.

The last of TEPCO's shuttered reactors was cleared to reopen only in July 2005.

Also Thursday, TEPCO announced the force of the quake had exceeded its resistance guidelines at all seven reactors, sometimes by more than double. Public broadcaster NHK reported the reading at the No. 1 reactor was the strongest quake ever measured at a Japanese reactor.

The quake has caused trouble for other industries as well.

Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi and Fuji Heavy Industries, the maker of Subaru, all halted production because a key parts supplier was damaged by the temblor.

Officials at the damaged factory said they expected to restart production early next week.

In the damage zone, residents struggled to put their lives back together, though basic services such as water had not been restored to some areas.

"We're just getting by day by day," said Masatoshi Ogawa, sitting in front of his closed pinball parlor. "Our houses were OK so we didn't have to go to evacuation centers, but life without water is really inconvenient."

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Associated Press writers Kozo Mizoguchi and Chisaki Watanabe contributed to this report.