Nuclear Power Plant In Japan Surprised By Earthquake

Officials At World's Largest Nuclear Plant Were Unaware Of Fault Line The 6.6-magnitude earthquake that struck Japan, killing nine and injuring 1,000 or more, has sent a ripple of aftershocks of unease through the public about the safety of nuclear power plants. On the one hand, the reactors operating at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant shut down as designed, and U.S. nuclear regulatory officials told the USA Today that the public should take comfort that similar systems are in place at all reactors. On the other hand, the quake caused a fire, and caused a leak with slightly radioactive water to spill into the Sea of Japan. And perhaps worse, the fault that shook had been unknown to the Tokyo Electric Power Co., according to the Los Angeles Times. This Japanese nuclear, the world's most powerful, is more than two decades old. Like older reactors in the United States, it is the subject of sometimes fierce public concern and often distrust. But as the world contends with global warming, the prospect of electric power production that produces virtually no air pollution is on the table around the world, with Russia alone planning to build 26 reactors and export another 60. Nuclear power comes with serious tradeoffs: The environmental cost of mining and refining uranium, the nearly unending lifespan of nuclear waste and the prospect that spent nuclear fuel can be weaponized -- either through state-sponsored refining, rogue dirty bombs or a direct terrorist strike. Natural disasters like this only highlight the issues the United States and the world will have to grapple with as it weans off of the oil, coal and gas that have fueled so much industrial development for a century or more. Related Stories: U.S. Nuclear Power Plants: Vulnerable To Earthquake? See Earthquake Maps In Real Time From Around The World