Japan earthquake triggered fire alarm at Fukushima nuclear power plant

The operator of the nuclear power plants of Fukushima I and II reported today that the strong earthquake registered in the area has caused the activation of a fire alarm in one of its buildings and the interruption of a used fuel cooling system, problems that have already been resolved.

The fire alarm was activated after the earthquake in the building of reactor 5 of the Fukushima Daiichi plant (I), which has been inoperative since before the nuclear crisis of 2011, while The fault in the cooling system affected the pools where used atomic fuel is stored at the Daini plant (II). The Japanese nuclear regulator told state broadcaster NHK that no increases in radioactivity have been detected at the power plants or in its vicinity after these incidents resulting from the magnitude 7.3 earthquake that shook the Fukushima prefecture.

Japanese Prime Minister, fumio kishidaaffirmed that “no significant irregularities” have been detected in the plants, in statements to the media, after TEPCOthe plant operator, will report on the incidents.

TEPCO indicated that the fire alarm went off at the Daiichi reactor without any fire being recorded at these nuclear facilities and added that it is checking the levels of water used to cool the four reactors damaged by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

The problem in the used fuel cooling systems was due to power outages caused by the earthquake and affected Daini units 1 and 3, although it was resolved after power was restored about two hours after the quake, according to TEPCO.

The earthquake It occurred at 11:36 p.m. local time (2:36 p.m. GMT) on Wednesday, at a depth of 60 kilometers off the coast of Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures, reported the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), which also warned of a possible tsunami of up to a meter high in the area.

The earthquake It was preceded by another earthquake of less intensity and reached a high level of six on the Japanese scale, out of a maximum of seven and focused on measuring the agitation on the surface and the affected areas rather than on the intensity of the tremor.

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