Chubu Electric Claims Hamaoka Nuclear Plant Quake-Resistant

SHIZUOKA, Japan -- - Chubu Electric Power Co. has recently argued that its Hamaoka nuclear plant in Shizuoka Prefecture is sufficiently earthquake-resistant after a seismologist warned of a catastrophe if a major earthquake hits the Tokai region.

"The structures of the nuclear plant are directly rooted in the rock bed and can tolerate a quake of magnitude 8.5," the utility claimed on its Web site.

"Its seismic safety has been confirmed by national safety inspections," said the power supplier to the Tokai and other central Japan regions after Katsuhiko Ishibashi, a professor at Kobe University, called it insufficient.

The plant also has machinery that automatically shuts down reactors at times of quakes, the company said, dismissing the possibility that an earthquake-induced nuclear disaster could occur at the Hamaoka plant as Ishibashi warned.

Ishibashi sounded his warning at a general meeting of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics held in Sapporo.

Another seismologist, Kiyoo Mogi, who was chairman of the Coordinating Committee for Earthquake Prediction, has also issued a similar warning, indicating a growing concern among academic experts.