Inside TEPCO Largest Nuclear Power Plant

While on an internship during a summer of late 199os, I was among lucky few to be chosen to spend a few weeks working for Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO in its headquarters in Tokyo.

The interns were invited to tour several power plants to learn about the power generation in Japan. One of them is a nuclear plant located in Niigata Prefecture on the side of Japan Sea.

TEPCO owns 17 nuclear reactors, 10 in Fukushima Prefecture and 7 in Niigata Kashiwazaki Kariwa. In 1997 all 7 units in the Kashiwazaki Kariwa plant were in commercial operation with a total capacity of 8,212 MW, nearly doubling the combined the capability of Fukushima Daiichi and Daini and becoming the largest nuclear power station in the world.

Nuclear power is considered as a base load energy and it accounts for approximately 40% of TEPCO's total electricity output, said TEPCO on itswebsite.

Inside the Kashiwazaki plant, we are guided to walk through gigantic pipes carrying the sea water to cool the reactors. Large amount of sea water is absolutely necessary for a nuclear power plant, we learned, that's why most of them situated by ocean.

As the only country that has been a victim of a nuclear atom bomb, Japan has a strong feeling towards nuclear power. The construction of the plants have encountered fierce domestic protests. To persuade communities, TEPCO enlisted its safety measures, such as anti-quake structure, five barriers enclosing radioactive substances, etc.

The company, however, hadn't obviously foreseen a quake with the magnitude of 8.9. A Feed and Bleed measure to solve the current crisis is not working, and it will take three to five years to solve, said expert.

The point is, no matter how secure the design and how detailed a protection plan, there is always unthinkable. TEPCO failure is not in its design, but in its lack of crisis management and rapid response, which may take more than five years to heal and establish.