Alarms Sounded 26 Times at Power Transmission Line Monitoring Systems for Ooi Nuke Plant

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, still the one and only regulatory agency for the nuclear power plants in Japan, disclosed it during the press conference in Ooi-cho on June 24. Plant operator KEPCO says that happens all the time, nothing to worry about.

And the famous last word, "It won't have any effect", on the restart.

Sankei Shinbun (6/24/2012) reported:

警報作動は計２６回　大飯原発の送電線　

Alarm sounded 26 times at the power transmission line to Ooi Nuke Plant

関西電力大飯原発（福井県おおい町）と京都市の送電施設を結ぶ送電線の監視設備であった警報作動は、２３日深夜から２４日午前にかけ、２カ所で計２６回に上ったことが分かった。関電と経済産業省原子力安全・保安院が２４日、おおい町での記者会見で明らかにした。

Alarms sounded 26 times total, at two monitoring facility locations for the power transmission lines between KEPCO's Ooi Nuclear Power Plant (Ooi-cho, Fukui Prefecture) and the power transmission facilities in Kyoto City from midnight on June 23 till June 24 morning. KEPCO and the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) announced the incident in the press conference held in Ooi-cho on June 24

　関電によると、福井県南部から京都府北部の、関電高浜原発（同県高浜町）や送電施設間を結ぶ送電線の設備計５カ所でも、同様に大気の不安定な状態によるとみられる警報作動が２３～２４日に計３２回あったという。

According to KEPCO, alarms also went off 32 times at 5 power transmission facilities located in southern Fukui and northern Kyoto Prefectures between KEPCO Takahama Nuclear Power Plant and the power transmission facilities, due to the unstable atmosphere.

　警報が作動したのは、２３日午後６時４１分から２４日午前８時１２分まで、計５８回。実際に送電設備の異常はなく、大気のゆらぎにより監視用の無線信号が途切れたことが原因だったとしている。

In all, 58 alarms sounded between 6:41PM on June 23 and 8:12AM on June 24. There was no actual problem at the power transmission facilities themselves, and [KEPCO and NISA says] the alarms were due to the wireless signals for monitoring were cut off by the atmospheric disturbances.

　関電は「気象条件でしばしば起こる現象」と説明、再稼働準備作業への影響はないとしている。

KEPCO explained it was "a phenomenon that happens often, due to the weather conditions", and said there would be no effect on the work to prepare for the restart of the plant.

It may be that such an incident is very common and very minor, and is usually not reported at all. But now that NISA and the electric power companies in Japan have lost credibility, whenever they do report an incident it is immediately upgraded to something that could be a major problem in the minds of the general public. When KEPCO says there will be no effect, people simply hear the echo of then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano in March 2011.

These alarms are connected to the carrier relays, and use microwave for communication. Because of the bad weather in June 23 and 24, the atmospheric disturbances caused the phenomenon called "fading", according to Kaden Watch News.

KEPCO's press release has this diagram:

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