Japan Prime Minister orders shutdown of nuclear plant near faultline

Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Friday ordered the suspension of operations at an ageing nuclear power plant south-west of Tokyo because it is located close to a dangerous tectonic faultline. It comes eight weeks after a massive quake and tsunami damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant north-east of Tokyo, sparking the world's worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl a quarter-century ago.
Seismologists have long warned that a major quake is far overdue in the Tokai region south-west of Tokyo where the Hamaoka plant is located. It is only 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the capital and its huge population. "As prime minister, I have ordered, through trade minister (Banri) Kaieda, that Chubu Electric Power Co halt operations of all the reactors at the Hamaoka nuclear power plant," Kan said at a televised press conference. The Hamaoka plant has five reactor units, but only two are running now - number four and five. Reactors one and two, built in the 1970s, were stopped in 2009, and three is undergoing a checkup.