Nuclear plant hit by earthquake closed indefinitely in Japan - Print Version - International Herald Tribune

Nuclear plant hit by earthquake closed indefinitely in Japan - Print Version - International Herald Tribune: "Nuclear plant hit by earthquake closed indefinitely in Japan

The Associated Press
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
KASHIWAZAKI, Japan: An earthquake-ravaged nuclear plant was shuttered indefinitely Wednesday, amid revelations that a radiation leak was worse than initially announced and mounting international concern about Japanese nuclear stewardship.
The mayor of Kashiwazaki ordered the damaged Kashiwazaki-Kariwa facility closed until its safety could be confirmed, escalating a showdown over a long list of problems at what is, in terms of output capacity, the largest nuclear power plant in the world.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, pressed Japan to undertake a thorough investigation of the accidents to see whether there were lessons that could be applied to nuclear plants elsewhere.
Adding to the urgency was new data from aftershocks of the deadly 6.8-magnitude quake suggesting that a fault line may run under the power plant."