OMa plant construction

November 13, 2014

Municipalities briefed on Oma plant construction

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20141113_40.html

Nov. 13, 2014 - Updated 13:27 UTC+1

A Japanese power company has notified the northern city of Hakodate of its plan to apply for a government safety screening as a step toward operating a nuclear plant in neighboring Aomori Prefecture.

Senior officials of Electric Power Development Company, or J-Power, visited the Hakodate municipal office on Thursday.

The city is challenging construction of the Oma plant in court. It says should an accident occur at the plant, damage to the city would be severe.

Hakodate lies less than 30 kilometers from the plant across the Tsugaru Strait.

The utility officials said they will apply as early as the end of the year to the Nuclear Regulation Authority for a safety screening of the Oma plant, hoping to start operation in fiscal 2021.

They asked the city for understanding, saying that they will step up safety measures at the plant.

Hakodate Mayor Toshiki Kudo expressed his displeasure at a news conference later on Thursday and pledged to continue fighting in court.

The mayor said J-Power is acting based on the assumption it will proceed with the plant's construction. He added that the utility merely presented a safety plan in its favor.

Earlier on Thursday, J-Power President Masayoshi Kimura visited Oma Town, where the plant is being constructed.
Kimura told members of the town assembly the utility will seek to complete construction by the end of fiscal 2020.

He said the utility raised its estimate of the maximum level of shaking of possible earthquakes from 450 gals to 650. He also said his company will start building a quake-resistant facility that would be the operating base in the event of accidents.

The assembly members asked him not to delay the construction plan any longer.

J-Power stopped construction work at the plant after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. It resumed work in late 2012.

The Oma plant is the world's first commercial station to run exclusively on a mixture of uranium and plutonium recycled from spent nuclear fuel, or MOX.

November 13, 2014

J-Power plans to start operating Oma nuclear power plant in fiscal 2021

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20141113p2a00m0na004000c.html

AOMORI -- Electric Power Development Co., known as J-Power, notified local municipalities on Nov. 13 of its plan to start operating the Oma Nuclear Power Plant currently under construction in the Aomori Prefecture town of Oma in fiscal 2021.

It is the first time the electricity wholesaler has shown the plan to local governments in Oma and its vicinity. J-Power also reported to municipal governments that it would work out safety measures to raise the so-called "design basis earthquake ground motion" -- the maximum ground motion assumed and required for earthquake-resistant design -- from the current 450 gal to 650 gal, as well as to raise the assumed maximum height of tsunami from 4.4 meters to 6.3 meters.

J-Power President Masayoshi Kitamura attended a special committee meeting of the Oma Municipal Assembly on the morning of Nov. 13. He explained that his company had revised its plan for the completion of the Oma nuclear plant from "undecided" to December 2020. He then said his company would apply with the Nuclear Regulation Authority for safety screening of the nuclear power plant as early as the end of this year. Kitamura subsequently reported the plan to the neighboring villages of Sai and Kazamaura. He is to visit the Aomori Prefectural Government on the afternoon of Nov. 13. At the same time, a senior official of J-Power would also explain the plan to the Hokkaido Government and the Hakodate Municipal Government.