Radioactive leak at Japan's nuclear power plant bigger than expected

A top power company official defended safety standards at an earthquake-ravaged nuclear plant Wednesday, even as the company said a radioactive leak was bigger than first reported and the government pressed for more details.

Photo: Radioactive leak at Japan's nuclear power plant bigger than expected

Radioactive leak at Japan's nuclear power plant bigger than expected

As the showdown escalated over a long list of problems at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, the world's largest in terms of power output capacity, the mayor of nearby Kashiwazaki city ordered the facility shut down until its safety can be confirmed.

Meanwhile, it emerged that a fault line may run underneath the mammoth power plant, according to data from aftershocks of Monday's deadly 6.8-magnitude quake.

Tsunehisa Katsumata, president of plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co., toured the site Wednesday morning, declaring it "a mess." The previous evening, his company released a list of dozens of problems triggered by the quake.

Katsumata apologized for "all the worry and trouble we have caused."

"It is hard to make everything go perfectly," he said. "We will conduct an investigation from the ground up. But I think fundamentally we have confirmed that our safety measures worked."

TEPCO, Japan's largest power company, said the quake was stronger than planned for at the seven-reactor plant in the northern prefecture of Niigata. But none of the problems posed serious threats to people or the environment, it said. Still, the plant suffered a fire, broken pipes, water leaks and spills of radioactive waste.

After Katsumata's plant tour, TEPCO announced that a leak of radioactive water into the Sea of Japan was actually 50 percent bigger than initially announced Monday night. But the levels were still well below danger levels, it said.

The size of radioactive leak was 90,000 becquerels, not 60,000, TEPCO said.

"We made a mistake in calculating the amount that leaked into the ocean. We apologize and are making a correction," the statement said. Spokesman Jun Oshima said the amount was still "one-billionth of Japan's legal limit."

Still unconvinced was Hiroshi Aida, mayor of Kashiwazaki, a city near the epicenter that is home to the plant and 93,500 people. Earlier in the day, he ordered operations at the plant halted Wednesday for "safety reasons"

"I am worried," he said. "It would be difficult to restart operations at this time. ... The safety of the plant must be assured before it is reopened."

TEPCO had been under fire for delays in reportinginitial troubles, including the fire at an electric transformer and leaks of water containing radioactive material. But the lengthy list of problems released more than a day after the temblor stoked further concerns about the safety of nuclear power in this quake-prone country.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki urged TEPCO to be more transparent in reporting problems, especially those that may impact the public.

"We want the report itself to be honest and we want it quickly," he said.

Similar concern was echoed throughout much of the country, which depends on a total of 55 nuclear power plants for about 30 percent of its electricity needs.

"This was a relatively new nuclear power plant, but what would have happened if it was at an old plant. We need to thoroughly review what happened and learn the lesson from this case," national daily Asahi said in its editorial Wednesday.

TEPCO spokesman Hiroshi Itagaki said aftershock data indicate a fault under the ocean floor near the plant. While it was unclear how close the line came to the plant, Meteorological Agency official Osamu Kamigaichi said it may stretch under its grounds.

The plant lies only 19 kilometers (12 miles) from the epicenter of Monday's quake, just off the nearby coast of the Sea of Japan, TEPCO says. That temblor killed nine people, damaged hundreds of buildings, buckled roads and severed utilities.

For residents, thousands of whom work at the plant, the controversy over its safety compounded already severe problems, which included heavy rains and the threat of landslides, water and power outages, and spotty communications.

The area around Kashiwazaki was hit by an earthquake three years ago that killed 67 people, but the plant suffered no damage.

The plant in Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, 220 kilometers (135 miles) northwest of Tokyo, eclipsed a nuclear power station in Canada as the world's largest power station when it added its seventh reactor in 1997.

The Japanese plant, which generates 8.2 million kilowatts of electricity, has been plagued with mishaps. In 2001, a radioactive leak was found in a turbine room.

The plant's safety record and its proximity to a fault line prompted residents to file lawsuits claiming the government had failed to conduct sufficient safety reviews when it approved construction of the plant in the 1970s.

But in 2005, a Tokyo court threw out a lawsuit filed by 33 residents, saying there was no error in the government safety reviews.