Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived in Japan with the mission of investigating the circumstances surrounding the shut down of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant and potential safety breaches caused by a powerful earthquake last month.

The IAEA sent a team of experts to the troubled facility after local authorities expressed their concern regarding a possible drop of safety levels at the plant located in the Niigata Prefecture.

A quake scaled 6.8 on the Richter scale jolted the region on July 16 and caused a fire inside the plant, prompting the operating company, Tokyo Electric Power to shut down all operations. Even if the transformer that caught fire was shut down and all ongoing processes were halted, leaks of radioactive material were reported after the incident.

About 50 cases of “malfunctioning and trouble“ were investigated at that time inside the plant adjacent to the Sea of Japan, a location that could pose serious environmental problems if a radioactive leakage would occur.

That was precisely what authorities feared and decided to maintain the plant idled until full investigations are complete.

During their four-day visit, IAEA experts will review the shut down procedure and establish whether it was done properly or it led to additional malfunctions. Also, radiation levels in the air and water will be checked after several liters of nuclear waste were dumped into the sea and several barrels containing hazardous substances tilted over and spilled their content.

“I think it's very good that the International Atomic Energy Agency can come here because we have a lot of lessons to learn,” Philippe Jamet, head of the IAEA team said.

Due to its approach to the quake's epicenter the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant was seriously jolted and it has been speculated that those shocks were more than the facility could take.