Japan Quake Sparks Nuke Plant Fears

9 Dead, Over 800 Injured, Small Leak Reported At Nuclear Plant

(CBS/AP)  A strong earthquake struck northwestern Japan on Monday, causing a fire and minor radioactive water leak at one of the world's most powerful nuclear power plants and turning buildings into piles of lumber. At least nine people were killed and hundreds injured.

The quake, which left fissures 3 feet wide in the ground along the coast, hit shortly after 10 a.m. local time and was centered off Niigata state. Buildings swayed 160 miles away in Tokyo. Sirens wailed in Kashiwazaki, a city of about 90,000, which appeared to be hardest hit.

Japan's Meteorological Agency measured the quake at a 6.8 magnitude and said a 6.6 magnitude quake was among the aftershocks. The U.S. Geological Survey, which monitors quakes around the world, said the initial quake registered 6.7.

CBS News reporter Lucy Craft in Tokyo described the largest aftershock as feeling like "a low-level amusement park ride," and said the 6.6 tremor sent signs in her office swinging.

"I was so scared — the violent shaking went on for 20 seconds," Ritei Wakatsuki, who was on her job in a convenience store in Kashiwazaki. "I almost fainted by the fear of shaking."

Flames and billows of black smoke poured from the Kashiwazaki nuclear plant — the world's largest in terms of power output capacity. The fire, at an electrical transformer, was put out shortly after noon, said Motoyasu Tamaki, a Tokyo Electric Power Co. official.

The plant leaked about 315 gallons of water, said Katsuya Uchino, another Tokyo Electric official. Uchino said the water contained a tiny amount of radioactive material - a billionth of the guideline under Japanese law - and is believed to have flushed into the Sea of Japan.

A company statement said the leak had stopped and that there had been no "significant change" in the seawater under surveillance and no effect on the environment.

The quake hit on Marine Day, a national holiday in Japan, when most people would have been at home.

Four women and three men — all either in their 70s or 80s — were killed, according to the National Police Agency in Tokyo and NHK, the national broadcaster. NHK reported more than 800 people were hurt, with injuries including broken bones, cuts and bruises. NHK later added one more death to the toll, without identifying the victim.

Nearly 300 homes in Kashiwazaki — a city known mainly for its fishing industry — were destroyed and some 2,000 people evacuated, officials said.

A ceiling collapsed in a gym in Kashiwazaki where about 200 people had gathered for a badminton tournament, and one person was hurt, Kyodo reported. The quake also knocked a train car off the rails while it was stopped at a station. No one was injured.

Several bullet train services linking Tokyo to northern and northwestern Japan were suspended.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — whose ruling party is trailing in the polls — interrupted a campaign stop in southern Japan for upcoming parliamentary elections, rushed back to Tokyo and announced he would head to the damaged area. He later arrived in a blue uniform to survey the damage.

"Many people told me they want to return to their normal lives as quickly as possible," Abe told reporters in Kashiwazaki. "The government will make every effort to help with recovery."

Japan sits atop four tectonic plates and is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries. The last major quake to hit the capital, Tokyo, killed some 142,000 people in 1923, and experts say the capital has a 90 percent chance of suffering a major quake in the next 50 years.

In October 2004, a magnitude-6.8 earthquake hit Niigata, killing 40 people and damaging more than 6,000 homes. It was the deadliest to hit Japan since 1995, when a magnitude-7.2 quake killed 6,433 people in the western city of Kobe.

[gaye5]

USAyesterday, I don't know a thing about nuclear power stations etc, and I sure am not a nut, but it scares me sick.
This earth quake was of medium size, I have been in bigger ones in NZ, and my grandmother has seen the ground open up and close again, so you have to wonder what would happen if there was a bigger one, and of a different type..
I have been in an medium size earthquake and there was no damage because it was only a swaying quake, but another the same size caused much damage because it was a jolting quake.

[usayesterday]

The engineers of the companies that build the nuclear plants take every single natural disaster into affect when designing/building a plant. The fact that the Japanese nuclear plant only leaked a minimal amount of water is a testament to how these modern plants can hold up to earthquakes.

I just hope that this portion of the news about the earthquake doesn't get over emphasized with the anti-nuclear nuts trying to prevent any further expansion of nuclear power plant building in the U.S.

It is quite clear that nuclear power is the cleanest power available to meet the needs (and I emphasize the phrase: MEET THE NEEDS), of the large populations in this world. Solar and wind power just doesn't produce enough power (kilowatts) versus the amount of space a solar farm or wind farm takes up.

A 600+ acre parcel of land was recently purchased in the middle of California for the sole purpose of creating a solar power farm. 600 acres, and the expected power the farm will generate.... only 80 kilowatts! That's just enough to power a small neighborhood only!


By the way, my heart goes out to the victims of this quake in Japan.

[michellem99-2009]

I hate earthquakes. We had a 6.8 in Seattle in Feb.28 ,01. I was really scared. I do feel for the Japanese people.

[erasmus6]

Obviously people are going to be concerned when there is a nuclear plant in the area of an earthquake.

My concern is the fact that when the story was first told, there was NO problem with the nuclear plant, now there is apparently a small leak. My concern is how sometimes countries like to cover things up because they don't want others to know there is a bigger problem.

How about when the Russians had that nuclear sub stuck at the bottom of the ocean and everyone on it had to die because at first they didn't want anyone to know and later when everyone knew they didn't want any help.

As we all know people do some really stupid things.

[jsilver2th]

Why isn't president Bush and John McCain pushing more nuclear plants today?

[incog-nito]

No problem. I've always thought an extra arm could come in handy. Maybe an extra eye behind my head.

[sjc_1]

This was only a 6.8 what would happen in a 8.9? What other reactors to they have and where are they located? Have they taken proper precautions?

These are legitimate questions that go way beyond a transformer fire. To try and trivialize it is just foolish. We ALL want to know more about nuclear power plants in Japan now, because apparently the people in charge have not told us everything.

[martin9p2]

I am definitely not a defender of nuclear power, ... but why don't you people react to the story instead of to your pre-conceived fears? The reactor shut itself down, and a transformer caught fire. That's not a big deal. A transformer caught fire in my neighborhood when there was a storm, and I don't care. I suppose a diagnostic xray, even a modern one, is thousands of times more destructive than the radioactive water released. I am not a scientist and I don't know this stuff for a fact, but why doesn't CBS (and other news orgs) do some actual research before posting alarming headlines?

[martin9p2]

Dear CBS, "Quake Sparks Nuke Plant Fears" is an irresponsible headline. The story is what sparked fears, not the leak which you explain to be one billionth of the amount that Japan considers hazardous. If you mistrust nuclear plants and still want to politicize the story, you could write "Nuke Plant Allegedly Still Safe".

[erasmus6]

I live on the west coast of Canada and we have had some minor earthqquakes but they say the BIG one is coming. They figure it could be one of the biggest yet. They figure it could be a magnitude of 9.?

I am sure glad we don't have any nuclear power plants here. I can't imagine why one would be built where they have earthquakes.

[sjc_1]

This really never occurred to me. I knew Japan had nuclear power and I knew that they had lots of earthquakes, some large ones. I assumed that the authorities that look at this before the fact would have had a safety margin.

You would say that national will and the cold war led to Russia doing what they did with their reactors, but you would think an open allied country like Japan would be subject to more review about where and what kind of reactors they put in.

[clestes-2009]

You know, building nuclear plants in areas where there is the probabilty of BIG QUAKES, has never struck me as a very smart thing to do.

It is never a question of IF, only WHEN.

[missingamerica]

Makes you think a square or even domed containment building is a poor design choice, particularly in earthquake country.

The whole thing should be in a giant concrete ball. That way if a 3-foot fissure elsewhere coincided with a 30-foot fissure under a nuke plant, the containment building would just drop instead of breaking in half.

[fizzie319]

I live up in Oregon and there have been small Earthquakes around the Portland area:

One in Jansen Beach which was a puny 1.5 and a 2. something in Coos Bay area(?)

If the world starts having more quakes, especially around southeast Asia, and something doesn't happen here, Its time to start worrying! Not much here in Oregon would survive a 7.0 - 9.0 earthquake, especially not one that would last for 20 seconds...

Remember that earthquake force ratings are Exponential:

For every increase in "1 magnitude" that means the quake is 10 times more powerful than the magnitude before it.

[rushlimpdrug]

"He later arrived in a blue uniform to survey the damage."
I think he made a wonderful color choice.

[mitdgreenb]

Brian - the only thing I can say is...

But this one goes to 11.

[brianbwb-2009]

A 20 inch tsunami? 20 inches? Thats body surfing, that is no tsunami, did someone commit the "Spinal Tap" mistake?

' means feet, " means inches.

Before you flamers jump, I saw the tsunami in Aceh province, Indonesia on video, and the aftermath first hand (2 days later I went, on invitation from a couple of my friends who work in their public works department, to assess the initial damage). I know a tsunami when I see one.

[hokuto1]

I was working at school in Tokyo today when we felt the earthquake hit. The report was correct: the swaying here was "leisurely" but it continued for a very long time.
We're also waiting for our own "big one" to hit here in Tokyo--it's long overdue.

[randalds]

Not when there's an earthquake coming. lol

Actually I am going to bed in a few minutes, but we are very overdue for a good size quake here in Los Angeles and many times a quake in one area on the same tectonic plate and trip of one in another area of the same plate because the pressure may be building there and the vibrations thorough the common plate can be enough to push it over the edge. At least that's one of latest theories out here in the shaky country. Makes sense too.

[randalds]

One many times leads to another on the same set of plates, which means we can expect another quake somewhere on the West Coast of Canada, the US or Mexico soon.