NRA wants more evidence at Mihama plant

December 5, 2013  

Nuclear regulators request further seismic data

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20131205_32.html

Officials from Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority have asked the operator of a plant to submit more evidence that an active seismic fault will not affect other faults beneath the site.

The active fault runs about a kilometer east of the Kansai Electric Power Company's Mihama power plant in Fukui Prefecture. Scientists say that if the active fault moves, it could affect 9 confirmed faults under the plant, including one below a reactor.

At a meeting of the NRA on Thursday, officials from Kansai Electric said that their own surveys show that the faults haven't moved for the last 120-thousand years. They say that this does not meet the definition of being active.

They added that the faults will not be influenced if the active fault moves.

Regulation officials asked the power company to clearly determine when the faults last moved and submit more detailed data about their relation with the active fault.

The officials will start spot inspections of the Mihama plant on Saturday.

They will also visit 5 other plants across Japan to survey faults under the facilities.

Operators of these nuclear power plants want to restart the facilities after passing safety checks. The plants have been shut down since the accident in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.