Nuke safety agency urged to check probe properly

July 26, 2012

Localities call for check on plant seam probe

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20120726_28.html

Local government leaders have asked Japan's nuclear safety agency to strictly check a planned probe of a seam below a nuclear power plant in Ishikawa Prefecture, central Japan.

Ishikawa Vice Governor Hiroyasu Takenaka and the deputy mayor of Shika Town submitted the request to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency in Tokyo on Thursday.

Last week, experts of a government panel said the crack below the Shika nuclear power plant's No.1 reactor is very likely an active fault.

This prompted Hokuriku Electric Power Company to submit to the agency a plan to conduct the probe.

The prefecture and town called the panel's remarks extremely regrettable, saying they greatly undermined public trust in the central government's checking system.

The localities asked the agency to fulfill its responsibility to assess the probe and explain it to the public.

Vice Governor Takenaka told reporters it's unclear whether the reactor can be restarted. He added that he hopes the agency will take strict measures to remove doubts about the plant's safety.