Qualla: Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant

Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant: Introduction

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit E-190, CC BY-SA 3.0. Seismologist Kiyoo Mogi identified the danger in 1969: a shallow magnitude 8.0 earthquake was overdue in the Tokai region of central Japan. Seven months later, the government granted permission to build a nuclear power plant at that very spot. The Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant sits on the coast of Omaezaki in Shizuoka Prefecture, 200 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, straddling the junction of two tectonic plates where the Philippine Sea Plate dives beneath the Eurasian Plate. Five reactors eventually rose on this 395-acre site. Today, every one of them stands silent -- two being torn apart, three waiting behind a massive concrete seawall for a restart that may never come.

Image: E-190 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant: Built on a Fault Line

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Masaqui, CC BY-SA 3.0. Construction of Hamaoka-1 began on June 10, 1971, and the reactor went commercial in 1976. A second unit followed in 1978, both General Electric BWR-4 boiling water reactors sharing infrastructure on the narrow coastal strip. Units 3, 4, and 5 arrived over the following decades, ...

Image: Masaqui | CC BY-SA 3.0

Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant: The Fukushima Reckoning

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Hiroaki Sakuma, CC BY-SA 2.0. When the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami devastated the Fukushima Daiichi plant in March 2011, Hamaoka's fate was sealed within weeks. Scientists estimated an 87 percent probability of a magnitude 8.0 or greater earthquake hitting the Tokai region within 30 years. On May 6, 2011, P...

Image: Hiroaki Sakuma | CC BY-SA 2.0

Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant: Fortress Against the Sea

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit IAEA Imagebank, CC BY-SA 2.0. Chubu Electric Power Company responded with one of the most ambitious nuclear hardening projects in history. A breakwater wall rose to 22 meters above sea level along the coast. Seawater pumps were waterproofed. Spare diesel generators with long-term fuel supplies were installed ...

Image: IAEA Imagebank | CC BY-SA 2.0

Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant: A Community Divided

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit photo: Qurren (talk) Taken with Canon IXY 430F (Digital IXUS 245 HS), CC BY-SA 3.0. The shutdown transformed Omaezaki overnight. In the April 2012 mayoral election, the plant's future dominated every debate. Three candidates offered three visions: incumbent Shigeo Ishihara favored a conditional restart, Communist Party candidate Haruhisa Muramatsu demanded decom...

Image: photo: Qurren (talk) Taken with Canon IXY 430F (Digital IXUS 245 HS) | CC BY-SA 3.0

Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant: Waiting on the Verdict

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gtogk, CC BY-SA 4.0. Chubu Electric filed for a restart review of Unit 4 in February 2014 and Unit 3 in June 2015. More than a decade later, the Nuclear Regulation Authority's review grinds on, delayed by investigations into a possible geological fault beneath the plant. Chubu's own surveys found no ...

Image: Gtogk | CC BY-SA 4.0