On Sat, 6 Oct 2012 01:43:58 +0100, Clive
wrote:

In message , Charles Ellson
writes
If it is a likely event then you don't build them in the expectation
of surviving the event. OTOH different rules apply to nuclear power
stations.
Wasn't the main failure identified years before when the French had a
nasty incident, caused by the cooling pumps being on the ground floor
and overrun with water. Swiftly corrected by putting the pumps of all
their nuclear sites on the top floor. If the Japanese had learnt from
this, then the outcome might have been very different.

Even then I suspect the proximity of the site to the sea might still
invite less direct hazards that would not be available 50yds uphill on
solid ground such as that involving floodwater creeping up on a
main/large substation in England this/last year.