NEI Nuclear Notes

The California Coastal Commission takes a look at the Japanese earthquake to determine if similar conditions could affect that state. Short answer: No, but that doesn’t excuse a lack of vigilance or a need for further study: The vast majority of faults in California, including the San Andreas fault, could not produce a magnitude 9 earthquake. Most of California is not susceptible to an event of the scale of the Tōhoku Earthquake. Nevertheless, it is important not to become complacent; large earthquakes are inevitable throughout coastal California, and could be devastating in their own right. There is a large population and much infrastructure at risk in central and southern coastal California. A nuclear emergency such as is occurring in Japan is extremely unlikely at the state’s two operating nuclear power plants. The combination of strong ground motion and massive tsunami that occurred in Japan cannot be generated by faults near the San Onofre Nuclear Generating S...