Can Oi meet NRA requirements?

April 17, 2013

Regulators to start checking whether Oi plant can meet new requirements

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130417p2g00m0dm081000c.html

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The Nuclear Regulation Authority on Wednesday decided to start from Friday a process to assess whether the country's sole operating reactors can meet new safety requirements coming into force in July.

If the NRA acknowledges that the No. 3 and 4 reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Oi plant in Fukui Prefecture have no serious safety problems, they will be allowed to remain online through September when they have to undergo mandatory routine checkups.

The two reactors are the only ones that are entitled to undergo such safety assessments before the new regulatory requirements, to be introduced in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster, take effect.

The NRA plans to hold meetings attended by its commissioners and other staff to discuss their assessments. The outcome is expected to be compiled in the latter half of June, the regulatory authority said.

After the Fukushima disaster heightened concerns over the use of nuclear power, reactors that had been operating before the crisis went offline for routine maintenance and were unable to restart, leaving Japan with no atomic power generation at one point.

The No. 3 and 4 reactors at the Oi plant, however, were reactivated in July last year because they cleared provisional safety standards created by the government at that time.

They are still the only two reactors that are currently online in the country, but they have to be checked to determine whether they can meet the new safety requirements to continue operating until their routine checkup period arrives.

As for other reactors, utilities are expected to apply for their restart after the new requirements take effect in July.

The fresh regulations drafted by the NRA urge utilities to take specific measures to protect their atomic plants from tsunami -- the direct cause of the Fukushima crisis -- and to prevent or minimize the consequences of severe accidents.

Preparing an emergency response center that will not be affected by any earthquake or tsunami are also among the requirements, but Kansai Electric plans to use a quakeproof meeting room as a substitute until a seismic-isolated building is completed in fiscal 2015