Mount Sakurajima Volcanic Eruptions Leave Sendai Nuclear Plant Intact

Summary: No damages to Sendai Nuclear Power Plant or casualties to Kagoshiima Prefecture’s residents ensue from Mount Sakurajima volcanic eruptions on Kyushu, Japan.

photo taken Feb. 5, 2016, by Kyodo from Tarumizu city, Kagoshima prefecture, southwestern Japan (Reuters/Kyodo): TorontoStar @TorontoStar via Twitter Feb. 5, 2016

No damages to Sendai Nuclear Power Plant on southwestern coastal Kyushu are reported from Mount Sakurajima volcanic eruptions Feb. 5, 2016, at 6:56 p.m. Japan Standard Time (9:56 a.m. Coordinated Universal Time).

The Mount Sakurajima volcanic eruptions brought attention to Kagoshima Prefecture’s active composite volcano and 3-loop M type pressurized water reactors about 50 kilometers (31.07 miles) away. Sendai constituted the first restart-up, Aug. 11, 2015, after nationwide shutdowns of 50 of 54 nuclear power plants following the Fukushima Daiichi meltdowns March 12, 2011.

The Kyushu Electric Power Company describes Sendai as withstanding 945- to 1,020-gallon (3,577.21- to 3,861.12-liter) seismic shocks and 13- to 15-meter (42.65- to 49.21-foot) tsunami heights. Scientists estimate that tsunami heights of over 40 meters (131.23 feet) from Tōhoku’s 9.0-magnitude earthquake March 11, 2011, overwhelmed Fukushima.

Greenpeace finds risk analyses by Kyushu Electric Power Company, Sendai’s owner, “flawed” regarding the cone-shaped, 1,117-meter (3,664.69-foot) stratovolcano of lava layers alternating with ashes and cinders.

According to Greenpeace, the analyses give underestimations of “the potential impacts of ash deposits on operations of the Sendai nuclear reactors following a major volcanic eruption." A report commissioned by the international, non-governmental environmental organization headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands, for Feb. 23, 2015, has the findings of consulting engineers in London, England. John H. Large of Large and Associates indicates that ash fall in easterly winds compromises the roof over Sendai’s spent fuel pools and facilitates radioactive releases.

Prime Minister Shinzō Abe judges Mount Sakurajima volcanic eruptions non-threatening since Japan has the “world’s toughest” nuclear power safety measures.

The Japan Meteorological Agency keeps track of over 1,000 volcanoes in the archipelago country with front-row seats on the Pacific’s seismic and volcanic Ring of Fire. It lists Mount Sakurajima volcanic eruptions Jan. 12, 1914, as mega-powerful in 20th-century Japan since what is now a mainland volcano was once a volcano island. Extensive lava flows merge the island into the mainland at a point 12 kilometers (7.45 miles) across the bay from Kagoshima City’s more than 600,000 inhabitants. The Fire and Disaster Management Agency notes the proximity of 4,000 residents to Mount Sakurajima volcanic eruptions, whose lightning may result from ash and gas friction.

Mount Sakurajima volcanic eruptions that obtain sizes similar to those Sept. 28, 2015, occasion mandatory alert upgrades to level 3.

Alert level 2 prohibits proximity to vents while level 3 stops movement into no-go zones whose radius runs from the crater 2 kilometers (1.24 kilometers) outward.

Masato Iguchi of Kyoto University’s Sakurajima Volcano Research Center questions likelihoods of “massive eruption” even though he stresses that “We need to monitor the volcano carefully.”

Kazuhiro Ishihara, Kyoto University Emeritus Professor, reveals that “stones have been thrown about 2km from the crater, but this area is quite far from any communities.” He states that, since the highest alert levels, 4 and 5, are not implemented, “I don’t think there will be any serious impact from the explosion.”

Toru Sakamoto, 56-year-old prefectural resident, told Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai national broadcasting reporters: “I’m not scared because I’m used to it.”

Mount Sakurajima as viewed from the International Space Station; image highlights proximity of several large urban areas -- Aira, Kagoshima, Kanoya, Kirishima, and Miyakonojo -- to Sakurajima: Public Domain, via NASA Earth Observatory

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

photo taken Feb. 5, 2016, by Kyodo from Tarumizu city, Kagoshima prefecture, southwestern Japan (Reuters/Kyodo): Toronto Star @TorontoStar via Twitter Feb. 5, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/TorontoStar/status/695605049221869568

Mount Sakurajima: Public Domain, via NASA Earth Observatory @ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=80274

For further information:

AP, Kyodo, Reuters, Staff Report. 5 February 2016. “Mount Sakurajima Erupts in Fiery Blast.” The Japan Times > News > National.
Available @ http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/02/05/national/volcano-eruption-rocks-kagoshimas-sakurajima/#.VrTnp62rC51

Associated Press in Tokyo. 5 February 2016. “Sakurajima Volcano in Japan Erupts.” The Guardian > World.
Available @ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/05/sakurajima-volcano-japan-erupts

Dvorsky, George. 5 February 2016. “Sakurajima Volcano Erupts in a Spectacular Display of Lightning and Lava.” Gizmodo.
Available @ http://gizmodo.com/sakurajima-volcano-erupts-in-a-spectacular-display-of-l-1757287489

Fujioka, Toru; and Taniguchi, Takako. 5 February 2016. “Sakurajima Volcano Erupts in South Japan; No Injuries Reported.” Bloomberg > Business > News.
Available @ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-05/sakurajima-volcano-erupts-in-south-japan-no-injuries-reported

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Available @ http://news.yahoo.com/volcano-southern-japan-erupts-103336288.html

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Available @ http://www.maltastar.com/dart/20160205-japan-volcano-erupts-near-nuclear-power-station

TheJapanChannelDcom. 5 February 2016. "Lightening in Sakurajima Volcano Erupting in Japan - Today Friday 5th February 2016." YouTube.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mWQq1FovIg

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Available @ http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-japanese-volcano-sakurajima-erupts-nearby-nuclear-plant-unaffected-2174325

Keating, Fiona. 16 August 2015. “Japan: Evacuation Warning as Sakurajima Volcano Near Nuclear Reactor Ready to Erupt.” International Business Times > Science.
Available @ http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/japan-evacuation-warning-sakurajima-volcano-near-nuclear-reactor-ready-erupt-1515684

Krynauw, Johan. 5 February 2016. “Mount Sakurajima Erupts in Fiery Blast.” Geological Society of South Africa > Breaking News, Current News.
Available @ http://www.gssa.org.za/?p=1545

Large, John H. 23 February 2015. “Implications of Tephra (Volcanic Ash) Fall-out on the Operational Safety of the Sendai Nuclear Power Plant.” Greenpeace-Germany Commissioned Report Ref No R3229-A1 26-12-14.
Available @ http://www.greenpeace.org/japan/Global/japan/pdf/Volcano_Ash_report_by_John_Large.pdf

Lies, Elaine; and Birsel, Robert. 5 February 2016. “Japan’s Sakurajima Volcano, Not Far from Nuclear Plant, Erupts.” Business Insider > Reuters.
Available @ http://www.businessinsider.com/r-japans-sakurajima-volcano-not-far-from-nuclear-plant-erupts-2016-2

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Available @ http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/115208.php

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Available @ https://sg.news.yahoo.com/japan-sakurajima-volcano-erupts-30-miles-sendai-nuclear-112402353.html

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Available @ http://www.lbc.co.uk/sakurajima-volcano-erupts-near-nuclear-plant-124506

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Available @ http://news.sky.com/story/1636538/sakurajima-volcano-erupts-near-nuclear-plant

Shim, Elizabeth. 5 February 2016. “Japan’s Sakurajima Volcano Erupts on Southern Island of Kyushu.” United Press International > Top News > World News.
Available @ http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2016/02/05/Japans-Sakurajima-volcano-erupts-on-southern-island-of-Kyushu/6691454688709/

Toronto Star @TorontoStar. 5 February 2016. "Volcanic lightning danced over the slopes of Mount Sakurajima following Friday's eruption." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/TorontoStar/status/695605049221869568

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Available @ http://www.ibtimes.co.in/japan-sakurajima-volcano-erupts-sends-lava-down-slopes-665832