Japan: In-depth
Posted Mar 18, 2011 03:07:13 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The continually unfolding events in Japan have given many Ontarians pause for thought when it comes to nuclear power. Still, that is just one of the stories to emerge from this latest eyewitness to world events.
At our special time of 1 PM this Sunday, the Farwell Files will explore what Ontario’s nuclear industry can learn from Japan.
In one sense, according to Ontario Power Generation, the fact that Japan’s nuclear facilities are still standing while so much around them lies in ruin speaks to the very “robustness” of these facilities.
But the OPG’s manager of media relations wants to reassure Ontarians that safety is always top of mind at our nuclear power plants, and that extends from neighbours of the facilities to employees.
“We’re very aware of safety. We’re a very safety-conscious culture,” Greutzner insists. “And that extends to public safety as well.”
Greutzner says the stiffest test faced by our nuclear facilities was the blackout of 2003 and while it was on a much smaller scale, it’s worth noting that Ontario felt a tremor last summer.
That 5.0-magnitude earthquake had its epicentre near the Ontario-Quebec border where some buildings were damaged and a bridge collapsed. Here in southern Ontario, the rumble registered as little more than a blip on the seismic scale but we still felt the ground shake.
And that’s not at all unusual, according to Cathy Woodgold of Earthquakes Canada.
“We locate 5000 earthquakes per year in or near Canada,” the employee of Natural Resources Canada admits. “But a lot of those are too small to be felt by people. They’re just picked up by instruments.”
Still, it speaks to the amount of seismic activity even in this part of the world and Woodgold explains how data is collected and research is conducted following every seismic event.
Of all the devastation witnessed in Japan to date, one thing we have not seen are skyscrapers tumbling in Tokyo. The simple explanation for that is the design of those buildings. Given that Japan is earthquake-prone, a lot of technology goes into the engineering of tall buildings to help them withstand seismic hazards.
“It really works and this is a really classic case where it’s demonstrated,” acknowledges Sriram Narasimhan, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Waterloo. “Most of the damage that has actually happened in Japan has been from water damage, the tsunami, rather than the physical ground shaking.”
Since we’ve come so far in meeting the demands wrought by earthquakes, Narasimhan suggests the next frontier for engineers to tackle is figuring out how to design buildings that can withstand tsunamis.
We’ll have in-depth discussion with each of these guests and also examine the Japanese people and their culture to learn why we have not seen widespread looting and why they may be among the best group of people on the planet to cope with a disaster of this magnitude.
Join us for the Farwell Files this Sunday at 1 PM.
