Suicidal Japan Restarting Nuclear Reactors
Channel: onthewaytoextinction
Date: 2013-06-21

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

BREAKWATER COMPLETED FOR NUCLEAR PLANT IN NIIGATA
Tokyo Electric Power Company has unveiled a breakwater erected to prevent tsunami damage to a nuclear plant on the Japan Sea.
Seawalls are one of the requirements stipulated in safety guidelines approved by the country's nuclear regulator on Wednesday.
The safety guidelines will take effect in July. They oblige power companies to implement measures to address the possibility of serious accidents at nuclear plants.
On Thursday, TEPCO gave reporters access to the breakwater built for the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata Prefecture. The utility started constructing the barrier 2 years ago.
The breakwater stands about 15 meters above sea level. TEPCO officials say the seawall can protect the reactor buildings even if it was hit by tsunami waves as large as ones that struck the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear station in 2011.
TEPCO also let reporters watch, for the first time, its work to set up filter vents at the plant. The system can release pressure in containment vessels while limiting the emission of radioactive substances.
Power companies are required to install filter vents at boiling-water type reactors similar to those at the crippled Fukushima plant.
TEPCO is now laying concrete foundations for the vents on the ground next to the currently offline No.1 and No.7 reactor buildings.
If completed, the tank-shaped equipment will measure 8 meters high and 4 meters wide. It uses water as a filter to drastically reduce emissions of radioactive elements.
TEPCO says it hopes to win local understanding for the safety measures so it can quickly apply to restart the reactors.
Jun. 20, 2013 

OHI REACTORS LIKELY TO REMAIN ONLINE BEYOND JULY
Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority will allow the country's only 2 running reactors to stay online after new nuclear safety guidelines take effect in July.
The guidelines for the first time oblige utilities to beef up measures against serious accidents like the one that occurred in Fukushima 2 years ago.
The authority submitted a draft report on its safety assessment of the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at the Ohi plant in Fukui Prefecture to a panel meeting on Thursday.
The report says the reactors will not be seriously affected even by a maximum-intensity earthquake. But it added the reservation that geological strata underneath the site are not fully known.
It also urges the utility to improve some emergency measures including the on-site emergency response facility.
But the report ultimately concludes that the 2 reactors operated by Kansai Electric Power Company are unlikely to immediately cause a serious safety problem.
The NRA plans to compile a final report after talking to Kansai Electric at a meeting scheduled for next Monday.
With that judgment, the Ohi reactors are expected to remain working until September, when they go offline for mandatory checks.
But the nuclear regulator criticized the utility for being stingy with information on the safety measures. The authority said that such an attitude could hamper it from carrying out its screening effectively.
Jun. 20, 2013 

JAPAN'S REGULATORS TO ALLOW 2 REACTORS TO CONTINUE
 Japan's nuclear regulators are expected to allow the only 2 reactors currently online in the country to continue operation.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority plans to submit a draft report on the 2 reactors at the Ohi power plant in Fukui Prefecture to a panel meeting on Thursday. The Authority has conducted inspections of the reactors since April based on a new set of stricter safety standards.
The new standards will take effect on July 8th. They require power companies to take concrete steps to deal with serious accidents.
The report says Authority inspectors have found no serious safety problems at the Ohi reactors.
With that positive assessment, the Authority is expected to give the go-ahead for the reactors to stay in operation until September, when they are scheduled to shut down for regular inspections.
All of Japan's nuclear power plants suspended operations after the nuclear accident in Fukushima 2 years ago.
Jun. 19, 2013 

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