The deadly earthquake that rocked Japan on New Year's Day shook a nuclear power plant beyond established safety levels, according to a report by Japan's Nuclear Regulatory Authority.
1000 gal = ~1 G . On another note Fukishima area reported nearly 2 Gs during the 2011 EQ, and did not fail because of shaking. It failed because the tsunami overtopped and killed diesel generators that were supposed to cool down the reactor that was automatically shut down due to design.
I had to google, maybe some else wants to know: Galileo units is a (non-SI) measure of acceleration.
1 gal = 1 cm/s^2
100 gal = 1 m/s^2
So the 500-something gal from the article is roughly around half the acceleration of gravity we normally feel.
1000 gal = ~1 G . On another note Fukishima area reported nearly 2 Gs during the 2011 EQ, and did not fail because of shaking. It failed because the tsunami overtopped and killed diesel generators that were supposed to cool down the reactor that was automatically shut down due to design.