Shika applies for screening

August 13, 2014

Hokuriku Electric submits documents for reactor safety checks

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20140813p2g00m0dm045000c.html

KANAZAWA, Japan (Kyodo) -- Hokuriku Electric Power Co. submitted documents to nuclear regulators Tuesday required for safety reviews of a reactor at its nuclear power plant in Shika, Ishikawa Prefecture.

Among Japan's 10 entities which own nuclear power plants, Hokuriku Electric is the last to file such documents on the No. 2 reactor at the plant, the 20th reactor at 13 plants across the country subject to safety reviews under new safety standards introduced following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis.

The utility aims to complete seismic strengthening work for the reactor building by the end of next March but it is undecided over when it plans to restart the reactor.

The Shika plant has two reactors -- a 540,000-kilowatt boiling-water reactor and a 1,358,000-kw advanced boiling-water reactor. The utility submitted documents for safety checks on the advanced reactor which started commercial operations in 2006.

The utility has decided to postpone safety reviews for another reactor in consideration of discussions over the "S-1 fault" lying under the reactor building.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority conducted an on-site survey over the fault and called for more information to make a decision on it. The utility briefed the NRA about its additional research on the fault in July, reiterating its denial of any activity in the fault.

In July, the NRA approved a draft report required to resume the operations of two reactors at Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s Sendai plant in Kagoshima Prefecture, in a major step for the plant to become the first nuclear facility to restart under the new safety standards.

August 12, 2014

Shika nuclear plant operator applies for screening

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20140812_26.html

Aug. 12, 2014 - Updated 09:07 UTC+2

The operator of the Shika nuclear power plant in central Japan has applied for a government safety screening as a step toward restarting its No.2 reactor.

Managing Director Akizumi Nishino of Hokuriku Electric Power Company submitted the papers to Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority on Tuesday.

The utility has increased the estimated strength of an earthquake that could hit the Shika plant from 600 to 1,000 gals, and the possible height of a tsunami from 5 to 7.1 meters. Accordingly, it has been reinforcing the plant's piping system and has built a 15-meter-high seawall.

Experts are still debating the possibility of faults running through the plant's compound moving in the future, including one directly beneath the No.1 reactor.
Government safety rules ban the installation of reactors and other key facilities above faults that are at risk of shifting.

The nuclear regulatory body will therefore postpone the screening of the No.2 reactor until the experts reach a conclusion.

Hokuriku Electric Power is the 10th and last Japanese utility with nuclear power plants to formally seek to restart its reactors.