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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday January 17 2017, @07:14AM   Printer-friendly
from the taking-hot-springs-to-the-next-level dept.

Friday, March 11, 2011, Japan was rocked by the largest earthquake ever to strike its shores. The 9.1 magnitude quake triggered a devastating tsunami that killed more than 15,000 people. It also took out the back-up emergency generators that cooled the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant complex, causing a series of catastrophic meltdowns.

But amid the chaos, the Yanaizu-Nishiyama geothermal power plant in Fukushima prefecture didn't miss a beat. Along with two more of the nine geothermal power plants in the region, the 65-megawatt facility continued to generate power, even as many other power plants around them failed because of damaged equipment and transmission lines.

[...] In a country as seismically active as Japan, it was a clear signal that geothermal energy was worth investing in.

http://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/1/15/14270240/geothermal-energy


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by compro01 on Tuesday January 17 2017, @04:59PM

    by compro01 (2515) on Tuesday January 17 2017, @04:59PM (#454962)

    I suppose in a country where people are used to and prepared for earthquakes of all magnitudes, this risk will seem much more acceptable than in more stable regions.

    I imagine that may be a side benefit. The amount of tectonic potential energy is finite, so bleeding some of it off in a whole bunch of unnoticeably small quakes makes the next big one that much less big.

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  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday January 17 2017, @06:27PM

    by bob_super (1357) on Tuesday January 17 2017, @06:27PM (#455001)

    OMGOMGOMG! Stop the Evil Geothermal greenies now, they will pump out all the quakes and cause them tectonics to stop!!!

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 18 2017, @01:30PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 18 2017, @01:30PM (#455371)

    Or it speeds up the overall movement and causes the next big one to arrive a bit sooner. Flip a coin.