Tokyo Electric Power Co. felt the wrath of the nation’s nuclear watchdog after it was discovered that entry alarms at the Fukushima No. 2 nuclear power plant don’t work even if sensors detect movement.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority issued a strong warning against a recurrence as TEPCO was in violation of the law, an official of the NRA said Sept. 12.
The matter came to the NRA’s attention last October during an on-site inspection to assess what precautions had been taken to protect the nuclear materials there. The intruder alarms were deactivated several years ago.
The sensors were installed at the perimeter of the facility and elsewhere.
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The Fukushima No. 2 nuclear power plant still keeps spent nuclear fuel in cooling pools but does not produce electricity now. Fukushima prefectural authorities are demanding it be decommissioned.
Security at the site is poor compared with the situation at the nearby crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, which went into triple meltdown as a result of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster, and the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture, which TEPCO intends to bring back online.
A report by TEPCO to the NRA said the security official requested that the “environment of the area be improved,” including taking steps to bring the overgrown foliage under control. But the individual’s supervisor refused, citing “the need to start certain procedures.”
“Please be patient,” he was told.
Read more at TEPCO switched off alarms at Fukushima No. 2 plant years ago
