Global InformationYanosuke Hirai information
Yanosuke Hirai Junior Fourth Rank | |
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| Born | May 16, 1902 Shibata, Miyagi, Japan |
| Died | February 21, 1986 (aged 83) |
| Nationality | Japanese |
Yanosuke Hirai (平井 弥之助, Hirai Yanosuke, May 16, 1902 – February 21, 1986) was a Japanese civil engineer and corporate executive in the electric power industry. He developed electric power generation in the Tohoku region during the Shōwa era with unusual foresight and a deep sense of responsibility. 25 years after his death, Hirai’s foresight protected lives and environment from the March 11, 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. The Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant (Miyagi Prefecture), designed and built under his watch, was the sole plant in the region that fully resisted the disaster of March 11, 2011: all of its three reactors successfully withstood the seismic event and subsequent tsunami, shutting down safely as designed and virtually without any incident.[1] The site of the plant even ended up providing a refuge for three months to more than 300 neighboring people who had lost their homes.
- ^ "IAEA Mission to Onagawa Nuclear Power Station to examine the performance of systems, structures and components following the Great East Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami. Onagawa and Tokyo, Japan. 30 July - 11 August 2012" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 29, 2014.