TEPCO Leaves Fukushima N-Plant Seismometers Unrepaired

Tokyo, Feb. 22 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. <9501> left two seismometers at the No. 3 reactor at its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant last year unrepaired, officials said Monday.

The instruments at the plant in the northeastern Japan prefecture of Fukushima did not record waves of a powerful earthquake that rocked the Tohoku region Feb. 13 because they were not functioning. The quake measured upper 6, the second-highest level on the Japanese seismic intensity scale, in some locations in Tohoku.

The problem was reported in a meeting of the Nuclear Regulation Authority on Monday.

According to TEPCO, seismometers at the No. 1 to No. 4 reactors at the plant broke down in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that hit the northeastern Japan region, triggering a triple meltdown at the power plant.

The company currently measures quakes using seismometers at the No. 5 and No. 6 reactors.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]