Tokyo, Jan 10 (EFE).- A three-meter high tsunami hit the pier of the Shika nuclear power plant, in Ishikawa prefecture after the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that shook Japan last week, though no damages occurred, state news agency NHK reported Wednesday.
Data published by the plant’s operator Hokuriku Electric Power Company shows the sea level readers recorded the tsunami about 6pm local time on Jan. 1, two hours after the earthquake.
However, neither this wave nor other smaller ones that rose near the base of Shika minutes after the earthquake caused significant damage to the plant, which has a four-meter sea wall to mitigate against potential tsunamis.
Some of the plant’s systems that receive external electricity stopped working after the earthquake damaged transformer pipes, so other means are being used to supply power to some equipment.
Elements of a substation and electrical transmission lines were also affected, but “the damage has no impact on the operations of the plant,” whose reactors were disconnected after the 2011 nuclear disaster.
According to the latest figures offered Wednesday by authorities in Ishikawa prefecture, the most affected, the earthquake has now killed at least 203 people and left 68 missing.
The number of minor and serious injuries amounts to 565, while 28,000 people remain displaced and authorities ask for caution against possible hypothermia due to the cold storm that affects the area. EFE
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