Concerns mount over safety of Japanese reactors

MORE than a day after a powerful earthquake shook northern Japan, officials revealed a nuclear plant suffered a long list of problems, including the leakage of radioactive water, an outbreak of fires and burst pipes.

The malfunctions at the Kashiwazaki power plant — and the delays in acknowledging them — are likely to feed concerns about the safety of Japan’s 55 nuclear reactors, which supply 30% of the quake-prone country’s electricity and have suffered a string of accidents and cover-ups.

Tokyo Electric Power Co said a total of 50 cases of malfunction had been found at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant since Monday’s magnitude 6.6 quake, which killed at least nine people and left 13,000 homeless.