Fear and fury in shadow of Japan's damaged nuclear giant

[donsu]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article2788602.ece


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Yet, somehow here the plant squats on the outskirts of this town of 93,000 people, a seven-reactor, 8,200 megawatt monster, ringed by roads that are cracked and buckled from this week's deadly earthquake.

Inside, in the seconds after the quake - which measured 6.8 on the Richter scale - struck under the sea just 12 miles away, pipes burst, drums of radioactive waste toppled and monitors stopped working. A fire broke out and burnt for two hours, and 1,200 litres of contaminated water sloshed into the sea.

When Tsunehisa Katsumata, the president of Tokyo Electric (Tepco), the utility giant that runs the plant, surveyed the damage, he reportedly called it "a mess".

Those reactors are now idle, threatening power shortages throughout the peak energy-demanding summer months and forcing the Trade minister, Akira Amari, to request yesterday that business users cut electricity consumption.

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The locals have argued about its merits since it was announced amid a blaze of publicity and national pride in 1969. Demonstrations, petitions and court cases were a regular feature of life here as the reactors went online between 1985 and 1997. But now the most common local reaction to questions about the plant is shikata-ga-nai, - It can't be helped. "Most people who live here keep a wary eye on the plant, the way they would a dangerous neighbour," says Paul Woodcock, a Briton who teaches in the town. "They just hope it stays calm."

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As the quake hit on Monday, a gravestone in a village a few miles away toppled and smashed. The grave belonged to the former prime minister Kakuei Tanaka, Japan's postwar master of pork-barrel politics and an early proponent of energy self-sufficiency.

To add to the richly symbolic turn of events, Tanaka helped broker the Kashiwazaki plant. "Perhaps Tanaka-san now regrets his decision," said one local.
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[madrchsod]

1. why would anyone think that there would`t be a problem?

last i looked japan is sitting on a rather large fault system