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Question:

Why did the Japanese build Fukushima Nuclear Power Station right on Seaboard and with flawed Tsunami Protectio?

Do you have more insights into this? Japan builds great cars, machinery, tools and high-tech products. Their bullet train is known for almost zero delays in decades. Yet with the Fukushima nuclear power station we have flawed tsunami protection in a location known for powerful earthquakes and tsunamis for at least centuries. I guess no one should be surprised by a ca. 50 feet tsunami at that location. It looks to me like such an obvious blunder. Am I mistaken? - And I mean no offense to the great people of Japan who so valiantly dealt with the terrible tsunami crisis that I admire this very much. Thank you.

Answer:

1. okorder
I understand that the designers had made provision for a tsunami of about one-half the height of the one which struck. Engineers regularly make calculations based upon past events. For instance they decide how much buildings need to be strengthened against high winds by looking at weather records for the past one hundred years. In this case the scale of the undersea earthquake was unprecedented. Basing their calculations on the biggest tsunami that had taken place before, the experts were fooled this time. I too wonder why the plant was not built on the other side of the island, where the floor of the Sea of Japan was far less likely to experience such a massive earthquake.
Yes you are mistaken. The Fukushima station was designed to withstand average tsunami that had occurred in that area. However the tusnami that hit was much larger than any seen before in that area, or in recorded human history for that matter. Even if you could design a facility to withstand a 200 or even 500 year disaster, eventually you'll encounter something even larger, and then you'll be right back here whining about why did they only design the structure for a 500 year disaster, blah blah blah. Furthermore, such a facility would be prohibitively expensive and over engineered. Was it a risk to only design something to withstand a once-in-a-century event? Sure, but there's no such thing as 0% risk.
They know there would be tsunamis around the area, but they never expected the tsunamis of that magnitude. After the incident, the geographers dig the land and found there were tsunamis of that size about 700 years ago. It is difficult for ppl to predict the natural disasters that come in 700-year interval. They prepared for the earthquakes and tsunamis of the grade of every 70~300-year interval, but obviously, it wasn't enough for the preparation. Therefore, the gov. is asked the geographers to check the ground to find any sign of past disasters and to reassess the security measures. Obviously, the scientists have better methods to research the land compared to 30-40 years ago, so if any problem was found, the gov. says they would close up the power plants.

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