#Nuclear Japan: Hamaoka Nuke Plant Opens "Nuclear Safety Research Laboratory" (Seriously)

You can't make that up. Following the news of Gundam fantasy by LDP politicians, Chubu Electric Power Company says it will ensure safety of nuclear power by having a nuclear safety lab inside Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant, in order to ensure safety. Remember this plant sit right in the center of the expected Tokai earthquake zone, and the plant itself sits on earthquake faults. The plant is practically on the beach, and if tsunami comes it will be the reactor buildings that will be hit first, not the turbine building as happened in Fukushima.

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Remember that is the nuclear power plant that PM Kan ordered shut down for the time being in May last year after the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. No one knows why exactly. Some alleged that it was the US government who pressured Kan to do so.

Or maybe Mr. Kan watched a Godzilla movie in which the nuclear monster destroys Hamaoka Nuke Plant. Much like he worried about the massive evacuation that might be necessary for Tokyo Metropolitan region after reading a SF novel by Sakyo Komatsu, possibly. But that stopped Chubu Electric from restarting the plant in July 2011. (For more of the charade between Chubu Electric and the Oxford-grad governor of Shizuoka, see my post from May last year.

From Jiji Tsushin (7/3/2012):

原子力安全研究所が開所＝浜岡原発内に－中部電

Chubu Electric: Nuclear Safety Research Laboratory opened inside Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant

中部電力は２日、東京電力福島第１原発事故を踏まえ、浜岡原発（静岡県御前崎市）の安全対策に万全を期すため、同原発内に「原子力安全技術研究所」を新設した。同社幹部ら３５人が出席して開所式を行った。

On July 2, in order to do the utmost best in safety measures at Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant (Omaezaki City, Shizuoka Prefecture) after the accident at TEPCO's Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, Chubu Electric Power Company newly opened the "Nuclear Safety Research Laboratory" inside the plant. 35 senior managers of Chubu Electric attended the opening ceremony.

開所式で、中部電の石田篤志技術開発本部長は「研究成果を地元や全国に提供し安心してもらう」とあいさつ。その上で、「浜岡原発のさらなる安全を追求し続けるため挑戦してもらいたい」と研究員に訴えた。

During the opening ceremony, Atsushi Ishida, general manager of the research and development department at Chubu Electric, made a speech. He said, "The result of the research will be shared with the local community and with the whole country, so that people can feel safe." Further, he challenged the researchers to continue to strive for safer Hamaoka Nuke Plant.

Whatever that means. Jiji Tsushin has a picture of a Shinto priest purifying the place and praying for the safety and success of the lab, with Chubu managers and researchers bowing with him.

The word for this in Japanese is "Kamidanomi (神頼み)" - praying to the gods, literally.

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