Society

Tepco admits not repairing Fukushima No. 1 seismometers that broke last year

Feb 24 (Japan Times) - Since last year, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. (Tepco) left two broken seismometers unrepaired at the No. 3 reactor within its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, officials said Monday.

The instruments at the plant in Fukushima Prefecture did not record the tremors caused by a powerful earthquake that rocked the Tohoku region on Feb. 13 because they were not functioning. In some locations in Tohoku the quake measured upper 6, the second-highest level on the Japanese seismic intensity scale.

The problem was reported during a meeting of the Nuclear Regulation Authority on Monday.

According to Tepco, seismometers for the No. 1 to No. 4 reactors at the plant broke down during the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that hit the region and triggered a triple meltdown at the power plant.

The company currently measures the strength of earthquakes using seismometers at the No. 5 and No. 6 reactors.

Source: ANNnewsCH

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