Tepco admits not repairing Fukushima No. 1 seismometers that broke last year
Japan Times -- Feb 24
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.
- Japan Times
福島第一原発3号機に設置されていた地震計2台が2つとも故障したまま放置されていたことが分かりました。最大震度6強を観測した13日の地震のデータも記録できなかったということです。
福島第一原発ではメルトダウンや水素爆発で大きな損傷を受けた施設が地震の揺れにどの程度、耐えられるかなどのデータを取るため、3号機の建屋の1階と最上階に地震計が2台置かれています。
東京電力はこの地震計が去年、2台とも故障したものの、その後、修理も交換もされていなかったことを明らかにしました。
このため、最大震度6強を観測した今月13日の地震のデータは記録できなかったということです。
この事実は22日、原子力規制委員会の検討会合への報告で初めて明らかになりましたが、会合の出席者からは「貴重なデータが得られなかった」「東電は信用できない」といった厳しい意見が相次ぎました。 - ANNnewsCH
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