Tokai No.2 Nuclear Plant
The Tokai No.2 Power Station is situated 110km northeast of Tokyo as one of the closest nuclear power plants to Tokyo.
Tokai No.2 Power Station
This power plant also faced a grave crisis due to the M9.0 earthquake and big tsunamis on March 11, 2011, as with the Fukushima Daiichi (No.1) Power Station located 220 km northeast of Tokyo. But this plant in Ibaraki Prefecture could get rid of an accident, thus causing no nuclear disaster to Tokyo.
Locations of Nuclear Power Generation Plants in Japan
The plant has a BWR nuclear reactor made by GE and Hitachi with ability to provide 1.1 million kW of electricity. It started operation in November 1978. However its operation is now suspended due to periodic inspection without any plan to resume its operation in any near future like so many other nuclear reactors in Japan in the aftermath of the 3.11 Disaster and the Fukushima Daiichi accident.
The head of the Tokai No.2 Plant recently commented in a symposium on why they could prevent a nuclear accident on and after March 11, 2011. The plant head Mochida pointed to three conditions for their success in managing the plant against the natural disaster of a scale which can be observed only once in 1000 years in Japan:
1. They had already built protective walls around the Tokai No.2 Station standing on the North Pacific Ocean like the Fukushima Daiichi No.1 Plant. They had studied a possibility of future tsunami hazards. Accordingly, they built 6.1-meter high coast levees which could eventually stand against a 5.4 meter tsunami on March 11, 2011. With these walls they could secure sea-water pumps which provided cooling water to the nuclear reactor after the tsunami.
2. They learnt a lesson from the 2004 Niigata Chuetsu earthquake which halted temporarily operation of the Kashiwazaki Nuclear Power Plant located on the Sea of Japan. Following a review of the earthquake, they introduced gas turbine generators into the Tokai No.2 Station. This auxiliary generators could provide electricity for the Station after the M9.0 earthquake and tsunamis which knocked down external power supply to the Tokai facilities. So, the Tokai Station could continue cooling of the nuclear reactor by operating pumps after the occurrence of the natural disaster.
3. They had good relationships with various providers and business partners. Those companies helped the Tokai No.2 Station at the time of the great crisis on and after March 11, 2011. In such emergency situations, the Station needed extra manpower, equipment, and services. But those friendly businesses offered big aid and support despite danger of a possible nuclear accident.
Indeed, these three conditions were what was fatally lacked in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant which is located 100 km north of the Tokai No.2 Station.
Conversely, if the Tokai No.2 Station could not fulfill the above three conditions, it should have been crippled like Fukushima Daiichi. And in this case the Tokyo Metropolitan Area must have suffered a very grave situation.
Possible Situation of Tokai No.2 Station Damaged like Fukushima Daiichi
In this case, radioactive hazards would cover Ibaraki, Chiba, Saitama Prefectures north and east of Tokyo Prefecture on Tokyo Bay. So, most of businesses in Tokyo must have been affected badly, and tens of thousands of Tokyo residents must have evacuated. Probably all the foreigners living in Tokyo would run away in a panic while the Narita International Airport should stop its service. We were really very lucky to have good management in the Tokai No.2 Station on March 2011.
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Tokyo toward North
