Sensitivity Analysis Maximum Height of Tsunami at the Uljin Nuclear Power Plant, South Korea

摘要

Japan is thought to suffer to have suffered economic loss estimated to be in the amount of between 230 trillion KRW to 360 trillion KRW from the Fukushima Earthquake and tsunami which struck on March 11, 2011. Japan also suffered enormous economic losses at the hand of a tsunami originating from the ocean floor near Sumatra Island in the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004. Both earthquakes made nuclear power plants suffer from flooding causing enormous economic and environmental damage. The tsunami created initial damage at first and then secondary damage by destroying the nuclear power plant. The destruction of the nuclear power plant from the secondary damage increased the economic and environmental loss exponentially at the place of occurrence as well as in the world. Korea is protected from damage caused by tsunamis given its location, but the east coast had sustained damage caused by tsunami several times, for instance, the Akita tsunami in 1983 and the Okushiri tsunami in 1993. Imwon Port on the east coast suffered from a tsunami hit to record the highest wave height of 3 to 4 meters according to observation records and the waves arrived at the coast about 100 minutes after tsunami (Choi et al., 2003; Choi et al., 2006; Lee and Lee, 2002) Likewise, coastal area of East Sea is likely to suffer from damage from tsunamis. Tsunamis that could potentially strike the east coast where several nuclear power plants are located should be researched from the east coast of Korea as well as western coast of Japan.