Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Japan quake kills 9, spurs nuke leak

A fire caused about 315 gallons of slightly radioactive water to spill.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published July 17, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Getty Images] The Express highway is cracked by the magnitude 6.8 earthquake on July 17, 2007 in Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture, Japan. Five people have died and more than 680 induries with more than 300 houses destroyed in Niigata. [AP photo] Workers inspect derailed trains following Monday's quake at the Kashiwazaki station in Kashiwazaki city, Niigata Prefecture, Japan. The quake off the coast of Niigata toppled hundreds of buildings, cut transportation and triggered a fire at a nuclear power plant and a radioactive water leak. [AP photo] People hang out around destroyed house in Kashiwazaki city, Niigata Prefecture, Japan. A 6.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Japan's northwest coast on Monday, killing at least five people.

KASHIWAZAKI, Japan - A strong earthquake shook Japan's northwest coast Monday, setting off a fire at the world's most powerful nuclear power plant and causing a reactor to spill radioactive water into the sea - an accident not reported to the public for hours.

The 6.8-magnitude temblor killed at least nine people and injured more than 900 as it toppled hundreds of wooden homes and tore 3-foot-wide fissures in the ground. Highways and bridges buckled, leaving officials struggling to get emergency supplies into the region.

Nearly 13,000 people crowded evacuation centers today amid fears of mudslides and aftershocks. Japan's weather agency issued heavy rain, flooding and lightning warnings for the area, officials said. Tens of thousands of homes lost water and power.

The quake triggered a fire in an electrical transformer and also caused a leak of radioactive water at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power plant, the world's largest in terms of electricity output.

The leak was not announced until late Monday, about 12 hours after the quake. That fed fresh concerns about the safety of Japan's 55 nuclear reactors, which supply 30 percent of the quake-prone country's electricity and have suffered a long string of accidents and coverups.

About 315 gallons of slightly radioactive water apparently spilled from a tank at one of the power complex's seven reactors and entered a pipe that flushed it into the sea, said Jun Oshima, an executive at Tokyo Electric Power Co. He said it was not clear whether the tank was damaged or the water simply spilled out.

Officials said there was no "significant change" in the seawater near the plant, which is about 160 miles northwest of Tokyo. "The radioactivity is one-billionth of the legal limit," Oshima said of the leaked water.

Eliot Brenner, a spokesman for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Washington, said the agency told Japan's government it was ready to provide assistance if needed but had not received any request for help.

Brenner said he didn't have details about the incident.

The quake, which hit at 10:13 a.m., was centered off the coast of Niigata. The tremor made buildings sway in the capital 160 miles away and was also felt in northern and central Japan. Tsunami warnings were issued, but the resulting waves were too small to cause any damage.

In Kashiwazaki, a coastal city close to the quake's epicenter and the hardest-hit city, the quake reduced older buildings to piles of lumber. Nine people in their 70s and 80s - six women and three men - died, most of them crushed by collapsing buildings, the Kyodo news agency said today.

Kyodo reported more than 900 people were hurt, with injuries including broken bones, cuts and bruises. It said 780 buildings sustained damage and more than 300 of them were destroyed.

"I got so dizzy that I could barely stand up," said Kazuaki Kitagami, a worker at a 7-Eleven convenience store in Kashiwazaki. "The jolt came violently from just below the ground."

The area was plagued by aftershocks, but there were no immediate reports of additional damage or casualties. Near midnight, the Japan Meteorological Agency said a 6.6-magnitude quake hit off the west coast, shaking wide areas of Japan. There were no immediate reports of damage.

The delay in reporting the leak of the radioactive water raised suspicions among environmentalists, who oppose the government's plan to build more reactors.

"The leak itself doesn't sound significant as of yet, but the fact that it went unreported is a concern," said Michael Mariotte at the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, a Maryland-based networking center for environmental activists.

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akira Amari told the power company early today not to resume plant operations before making a thorough safety check, Kyodo reported.

[Last modified July 17, 2007, 00:51:19]