TEPCO still eyeing new nuclear plant

Experts from the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) examine a geological layer at the site of the Higashidori nuclear power plant in Aomori Prefecture, on Dec. 14, 2012. (Mainichi)

TEPCO willing to resume Higashidori nuclear plant construction

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20180630/p2g/00m/0dm/004000c

June 30, 2018 (Mainichi Japan)

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Tokyo Electric Power Holdings Inc. will launch a new site survey for its nuclear plant construction in northeastern Japan, suspended after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, with the company's president expressing readiness Friday to push the project forward.

TEPCO said it will conduct a full-fledged geological survey to devise stronger safety measures and see whether future facility expansion is possible on the site of the Higashidori nuclear power plant in Aomori Prefecture.

The survey will be carried out from later this year or early next year to around 2020, it said. Tepco has said it would seek participation of other companies in the Higashidori construction project.

"As we restart the (Higashidori) project, I want to make sure that a new plant would excel in safety," President Tomoaki Kobayakawa told a press conference, adding, "The geological survey is a very significant step to move forward on the joint development of Higashidori."

Construction of new nuclear power plants has stalled in Japan due to heightened safety concerns following the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, triggered by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster.

The resumption of existent nuclear plants' operations has also been slow after the government implemented stricter safety regulations.

TWPCO expects the Higashidori project to expand its revenue as it faces huge compensation payments in connection with the Fukushima nuclear crisis and plant decommissioning costs.

TEPCO has asked major utilities, including Tohoku Electric Power Co., Chubu Electric Power Co., and Japan Atomic Power Co., to cooperate in the joint construction and operation of the Higashidori plant.

TEPCO said Friday it hopes the utilities would decide around 2021 whether to join the project by taking into account the results of the geological survey.

The company plans to build two reactors at the site, with construction of the No. 1 reactor having started in January 2011.

June 29, 2018

TEPCO to begin survey for new nuclear plant

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180629_39/

A Japanese electric power company that's grappling with the aftermath of a nuclear meltdown accident says it will begin a geological survey for a possible new nuclear plant.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, said on Friday the survey is planned from the 2nd half of fiscal 2018 through fiscal 2020 in Higashidori in Aomori Prefecture, northern Japan.

It will be the first full-scale survey at the site since the March 2011 accident at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

The power company was due to start running its first reactor in Higashidori in March 2017. But construction has been suspended since the nuclear accident and the site remains vacant.

TEPCO says the survey will involve drilling to check soil and the structure underground. It says it will also consider how the new plant could meet tougher regulations introduced after the 2011 accident.

The company plans to ask other power companies to jointly build and operate the Higashidori plant, as it faces mounting costs to decommission the Fukushima reactors and pay compensation.

The deputy chief of TEPCO's Aomori office, Yoshinori Ono, said he hopes the potential partners will decide whether to join the project in around fiscal 2020.