TOKYO, November 22. /TASS/. A tsunami warning issued after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake hit northeastern Japan has been officially lifted, the country’s Meteorological Agency said on Tuesday.
The powerful quake struck the northeastern Japanese prefecture of Fukushima at 5:59 a.m. local time on Tuesday. The epicenter was at the depth of 25 kilometers to the east of the prefecture.
The rail, air and road transportation services were disrupted. The high-speed train networks have already resumed operations. The Sendai Airport in the Miyagi prefecture is expected to open soon.
The tsunami waves that reached the country’s northeastern coast were not higher than 3 meters and caused no destruction.
Situation at NPP
The cooling system at the third reactor at the Fukushima II Daini nuclear power plant (NPP) spent fuel pool was halted due to the quake. The system resumed work an hour later. No radiation leaks occurred and the temperature of fuel slugs remained within normal limits.
The Tokyo Electric Power operator officially apologized for the incident that fueled concerns of the local citizens who remember the tragedy at the Fukushima-1 NPP in 2011. No emergency situations were recorded at other NPPs, most of which had suspended operations.
In March 2011, a strong earthquake triggered a high tsunami off the northeastern coast of Japan. A gigantic wave hit the nuclear power plant Fukushima-1 that resulted in the most devastating nuclear accident since the Chernobyl NPP disaster in 1986.