Tsunami threat to nuclear plant ‘under-estimated’

UN inspectors criticised Japan for under-estimating the threat of a devastating tsunami on its crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, but praised its overall response to the crisis as exemplary.

The preliminary report by a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency also said the tsunami hazard was under-estimated at several other nuclear facilities in Japan, and called for experts worldwide to learn from the disaster to avert future accidents.

The IAEA team of international experts from 12 countries, which spent a week in Japan conferring with officials and inspecting the plant, will submit its full report at a high-level IAEA conference in Vienna from June 20-24.

“Japan’s response to the nuclear accident has been exemplary, particularly (as) illustrated by the dedicated, determined and expert staff working under exceptional conditions,” the report said. It also praised the evacuation of those living near the plant as “impressive and well-organised”.

The Fukushima Dai-ichi facility was crippled when a tsunami generated by a magnitude-9.0 earthquake hit Japan on March 11. It suffered explosions, fires and meltdowns in the days after the natural disaster.

More than 80,000 people have been evacuated from the vicinity.

The report said the earthquake and tsunami were the direct cause of the power outages and communications blackouts that ensued. It said the potential size of the tsunami that hit the plant, estimated at as high as 15m, was not sufficiently planned for and “overwhelmed” the plant’s defences.

“The tsunami hazard for several sites was under-estimated,” it said. “Nuclear plant designers and operators should appropriately evaluate and protect against the risks of all natural hazards, and should periodically update those assessments and assessment methodologies.”

It did not go into further detail.

The report also said Japan’s crisis underscored the value of disaster-proof emergency centres onsite to protect workers and provide a safe command headquarters for the management of the response.

A crisis centre was built at Fukushima after an earthquake hit a different part of Japan in 2007. The centre still serves as the plant’s crisis headquarters, and the IAEA report suggested it has functioned well.

Mike Weightman, the IAEA team leader and the Britain’s chief inspector of nuclear installations, said the IAEA team focused on finding lessons from the crisis which can be applied around the world.

“You can make nuclear plants safe against natural events, but you have to understand those events,” Mr Weightman said.