Posted for David Cyranoski
Advocates of nuclear power in Japan, having long struggled to convince a skeptical populace of the need for more and new forms of nuclear power, have certainly had their run of bad luck.
Or maybe it isn’t luck.
On Monday 13 April Hitachi admitted that data related to the heat-treatment process used for pipe welding on moisture-separator heaters, which increase thermal efficiency by removing moisture from steam, had been falsified.
Hitachi admitted the equipment, in use at two nuclear plants in Shizuoka and Shimane prefectures, was not operating as specified but maintained there are no safety concerns (which, if that’s the case, makes you wonder why someone would require collecting that data in the first place).
The heat treatment had been outsourced to Kawasaki-based Japan Industrial Testing Co. According to the Japan Times, “during the work, the pipes’ temperatures fell faster than specified because of inappropriate temperature management, but that data was erased from the records using a bleaching agent, according to Hitachi, its group company and other sources.”
It happened in December, ahead of Japan’s year-end holiday season. The person responsible explained: “If (the mistake had been) found, I would have had to do the heat treatment process again at the yearend when I was supposed to be off. I didn’t want to do that.”
Japan Industrial Testing Co. vowed to train workers better.
The industry ministry, the main advocate of the expansion of nuclear energy in Japan, had another headache late last week. On Saturday the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power complex, Japan’s largest, had its 9th fire since it was shut down in July 2007 following a nearby tremor.
The episode raised the question of whether it, or any of Japan’s other nuclear sites, were built to specifications high enough to withstand the powerful earthquakes that frequently rattle the country. On Wednesday Minister Toshihiro Nagai scolded Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and others involved.
The facility is set to start operations again soon.
Image: Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant / TEPCO