Another six months needed

February 18, 2014

TEPCO: Additional survey on faults takes 6 months

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20140218_16.html 

Tokyo Electric Power Company says it will take up to 6 months to complete an additional survey of seismic faults at its nuclear plant in Niigata Prefecture.

TEPCO applied for safety screenings by the Nuclear Regulation Authority at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant as part of requirements to restart the number 6 and 7 reactors there.

But the NRA asked the utility to conduct an additional survey of 23 faults running beneath the nuclear complex.

During an on-site inspection on Monday, a team from the NRA assessed locations where TEPCO plans to dig for the survey.

Team leader Kunihiko Shimazaki said the utility's survey plan appears to be largely satisfactory.

TEPCO Managing Executive Officer Director Takafumi Anegawa says the additional survey will take 3 to 6 months.

In a new business plan released in December, TEPCO based its projected earnings and spending on the assumption that the 2 reactors at the plant will be back online in or after July.

Anegawa said the business plan is preliminary, and that the company will take assessments from the NRA screenings very seriously.