Push To Restart Nuclear Reactors In Japan
Channel: onthewaytoextinction
Date: 2013-06-21

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/

NRA: FINAL DECISION ON OHI TO COME EARLY JULY

 Japan's nuclear regulators say they will decide by early July if 2 reactors at the Ohi nuclear power plant can remain online. The 2 are the only currently operating reactors in Japan.

On Saturday, 25 officials from the Nuclear Regulation Authority conducted an on-site inspection at the plant in Fukui Prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast.

The inspection was part of the process to check if the plant's reactors meet the new safety requirements that will take effect in July.

The regulators inspected the meeting rooms of the plant's offline reactors, which are used as accident response centers.

Earlier this month, they approved the plan by the plant's operator, Kansai Electric Power Company, to make use of the meeting rooms until a new facility is built.

NRA commissioner Toyoshi Fuketa told reporters after the inspection that they did not receive the impression that something is definitely insufficient.

But he acknowledged that there are still some points that needed to be addressed or improved.

Attention is focused on whether the nuclear regulators will allow Ohi's reactors to remain online. Ohi is seen as a touchstone for the enforcement of the new safety requirements that all offline reactors in Japan will face before they can resume operations.

Jun. 15, 2013 - Updated 17:19 UTC

TROUBLED NUCLEAR PLANT IN CALIFORNIA TO BE CLOSED

 The operator of a troubled nuclear power plant in California announced on Friday that it will shut down the facility for good.

The San Onofre plant is in southern California, located between San Diego and Los Angeles.

Operations were suspended in January of last year when a radiation leak led to the discovery of damage to pipes that carry radioactive water.

The operator, Southern California Edison, was facing local opposition to restarting the plant and regulatory hurdles for permission for resumption.

The operator decided to transfer costs and personnel for repairing the damage to other plants and grid systems.
The operator now says it will record a loss of 450 million to 650 million dollars before taxes.

It also plans to seek compensation from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for the damage to pipes inside a steam generator that was produced by the Japanese company.

Jun. 9, 2013 - Updated 00:01 UTC

KEPCO TO PUT OFF FINAL REPORT ON FAULT STUDY

 Kansai Electric Power Company, or KEPCO, says it will again postpone releasing its assessment of a seismic fault that runs below the Mihama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture.

KEPCO, which operates the plant, has been conducting a geological survey on the fault since September.

The utility says it will put off its final report until the end of July, saying it has not been able to gather all the necessary data. KEPCO originally said it would release the report in March before postponing it until the end of May.

The company says it will inform the Nuclear Regulation Authority of its new plan on Thursday.

Analysts say faults below the Mihama nuclear power plant could shift in response to movement by an active fault located one kilometer to the east.

The Mihama plant is one of six sites at which the Nuclear Regulation Authority plans to conduct its own examination. The facility has three reactors, all of which are currently offline.

KEPCO's postponement of the assessment has resulted in a delay of the authority's investigation.

May 30, 2013 - Updated 05:10 UTC

NRA: TSURUGA PLANT SPENT FUEL POOL NEEDS CHECKING

 Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority has ordered the operator of a nuclear power plant in central Japan to check the safety of a spent fuel pool of one of its reactors.

The authority determined last Wednesday that the No.2 reactor at the Tsuruga nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture sits on an active seismic fault.

The safety of the reactor's pool is now in question, as it contains more than 1,700 units of spent fuel rods.

The authority on Wednesday decided to order the plant's operator, Japan Atomic Power Company, to investigate what would happen to the spent fuel if the pool were to lose water, and what impact the incident would have on the environment.

The authority will also tell the plant's owner to report by July the results of the study, which must include countermeasures in the case of water being lost from the pool.

The Tsuruga No.2 reactor is now highly likely to be decommissioned, because of the government's ban on building nuclear reactors on or above active faults.

The owner of the Tsuruga reactor is trying to avoid the decommissioning. It plans to submit the result of its own study on the alleged active fault to the authority sometime after June.

May 29, 2013 - Updated 07:49 UTC