Suspicions linger over safety of Japanese nuclear power plants after oil leakage following quakes

In the aftermath of the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake, oil leakage from affected equipment at the Shika Nuclear Power Plant (Shika plant) in the most-affected central Japanese prefecture of Ishikawa was over five times higher than initially disclosed, arousing another wave of doubts and concerns among the public and insiders over the safety of nuclear power plants in quake-prone Japanese areas.

Although the Hokuriku Electric Power Company (HEPCO), the operator of the Shika plant, claimed that the leaked oil has no negative effects and external radiation levels remain unaffected, insiders questioned the company’s credibility and transparency considering no evidence of their claims has been provided to the public.

Also, they worry that the damage caused by the Noto quakes at nuclear power plant could be worse than initially disclosed. Many are worried that the Shika plant will be a repeat disaster of the Fukushima nuclear incident.

HEPCO said in its latest statement on Tuesday that “there was no damage to the [nuclear power] equipment that would pose a safety issue. Additionally, there are no changes in the readings from the monitoring posts installed at the [nuclear] power plant, and there is no impact of radioactivity on the outside world.” But it failed to provide specific data and a report of the incident.

Earlier this week, HEPCO stated that due to the earthquake’s impact, two external power supply transformers for Units 1 and 2 at the Shika plant were damaged. One transformer for Unit 2 was reported to have leaked approximately 3,500 liters of oil, rendering a portion of the external power supply system inoperable.

However, the company admitted on Friday that the actual oil leakage amounted to as much as 19,800 liters. Another transformer for Unit 2 at the plant has been found to have leaked approximately 100 liters of oil.

Given the stained history of mistakes, concealment and deception made by certain Japanese electric power companies such as the Tokyo Electric Power Company, the public seems to have lost trust in these companies.

Whether the oil has been contaminated by the nuclear radioactive substances, whether the oil leakage would affect the operation of the nuclear power plant and cause radiation leakage, and whether HEPCO has fully recovered the leaked oil from the sea remain unclear, said law professor Chang Yen-chiang, who is also the executive director of the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea Research Institute at Dalian Maritime University.