Onagawa 2 applies for safety screening

December 20, 2013

Tsunami-affected reactor to apply for safety check

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20131220_16.html

Tohoku Electric Power Company plans to apply for a government safety screening of one of the reactors at its Onagawa plant within this year, with a view to restarting it.

Sources say the utility, based in Sendai City, northeastern Japan, is planning to file the application with the Nuclear Regulation Authority for Reactor Two at the plant, on the Pacific coast in Miyagi Prefecture.

All three of the plant's reactors shut down automatically during the 2011 earthquake and tsunami and have since remained offline. The seawater pumps for cooling the reactors were flooded in the tsunami.

The utility has since been beefing up measures to protect the plant from earthquakes and tsunami.

It has installed large-capacity power generators on higher ground and is building 29-meter sea walls.

The sources say that the documents required for a safety screening of Reactor Two are now ready.

The application would be the first for a reactor affected by the 2011 disaster.

Tohoku Electric Power hopes to restart the reactor after finishing the sea walls by March of 2016 and obtaining the consent of local governments.

Reactor Two at Onagawa is of the same boiling-water type as those at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant. The Onagawa plant is located about 120 kilometers north of that plant.

Tokyo Electric Power has filed restart applications for two reactors at its plant in Niigata Prefecture, while Chugoku Electric Power is planning to file for one at its Shimane plant by the year's end.

Dec. 20, 2013 - Updated 01:24 UTC

December 19, 2013

Utility to request safety check of nuclear reactor

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20131220_10.html

Local governments hosting a nuclear plant in western Japan will allow its operator to file for the state's safety screening of one of its reactors.

Shimane Prefecture and Matsue City government officials will convey their approval to Chugoku Electric Power Company President Tomohide Karita next Tuesday.

The local governments made the decision after soliciting views from their assemblies and residents over the request filed by the utility in November.

A safety test by the state's Nuclear Regulation Authority, or NRA, is a prerequisite for restarting the Number 2 reactor of the Shimane plant. The reactor was suspended for routine inspections in January last year and has been offline ever since.

With the local green light, the utility plans to ask the NRA for a safety check by the year-end.

It will be the second filing for safety screening of a boiling-water reactor following that for 2 reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata Prefecture. The stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has the same type of reactors.

The governments of Shimane Prefecture and Matsue City plan to decide whether to endorse the safety assessment by the NRA after hearing from the state, the utility and neighboring municipalities.

Another utility firm, Tohoku Electric Power Company, is studying whether to file for safety screening of the Number 2 reactor at the Onagawa nuclear plant in Miyagi Prefecture within this year. The plant suffered damage from the earthquake in 2011.

Dec. 19, 2013 - Updated 21:13 UTC