Sendai to clear initial safety hurdle

July 14, 2014

Sendai nuclear plant to clear safety hurdle Wednesday, regulator says

Reuters

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/07/14/national/sendai-nuclear-plant-to-clear-safety-hurdle-wednesday-regulator-says/#.U8Qd1LHi91s

The Sendai nuclear plant in Kagoshima Prefecture is to clear an initial safety hurdle Wednesday, a key step in what is likely to be the gradual restart of an industry idled by the 2011 Fukushima disaster.

As Japan swelters through its first summer without any nuclear power in 40 years, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration is keen to start bringing the nation’s 48 reactors back online as the prolonged shutdown forces reliance on expensive fossil fuel imports.

All reactors have been shut for safety overhauls since the 2011 disaster.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority said Monday it will approve the upgraded design and safety features of the Kyushu Electric Power plant at a Wednesday meeting.

After this initial approval, the NRA will seek public comments for a month. Further on-site operational checks will be required, followed by the approval of local communities.

Experts largely expect the two-reactor plant to come online by the end of the year. The plant was fast-tracked for safety approval by the NRA in March.

The likely restart will be a key boost to the nuclear industry and to Abe, who despite widespread public opposition to nuclear power calls for the restart of reactors deemed safe by regulators. He reversed the previous administration’s plan to eventually mothball all units.

The NRA, an independent nuclear regulator set up after the Fukushima disaster, has been vetting restart applications from regional electric utilities for more than a year. Nine companies have applied to restart 19 reactors.

The blackout of nuclear plants, which supplied about one-third of Japan’s electricity before Fukushima, has pushed several utilities to post three straight years of losses and has contributed to a record string of 23 months of trade deficits.

Kyushu Electric was forced to seek a ¥100 billion bailout from the government-backed Development Bank of Japan this year to shore up its battered finances.

Even after the Sendai plant’s restart, at most about two-thirds of Japan’s 48 reactors will eventually pass the regulator’s stringent safety checks and clear the other hurdles needed to restart, a Reuters analysis in April showed.