NRA: Please focus on the job

January 5, 2015

NRA bracing itself for possible reactor restarts

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

Jan. 5, 2015 - Updated 05:14 UTC+1

The head of Japan's nuclear watchdog has asked its employees to work with greater responsibility this year. He said the task of regulatory authorities will take on greater importance if and when the country's reactors start going back online.

Nuclear Regulation Authority Chairman Shunichi Tanaka gave a New Year's address on Monday before 460 employees of the NRA's secretariat.

Tanaka said if reactors are restarted, regulatory authorities will be required to carry out new kinds of work, such as inspections on the nuclear facilities.
He said NRA officials must carry out their work with a greater focus than last year.

All of Japan's reactors are currently offline.

Utilities must pass new government regulations introduced after the 2011 Fukushima accident. They were set up as a precondition to restart their nuclear reactors.

The NRA is currently screening applications filed by utilities for 21 reactors at 14 plants.

In September, reactors at the Sendai nuclear plant in Kagoshima, southern Japan, became the first ones to clear the new regulations.

The Takahama nuclear plant in Fukui, on the Sea of Japan coast, is expected to have its safety measures approved by the end of this month at the earliest.

This year a number of pressurized water reactors may pass inspections and go back online.

Screenings of boiling water reactors, the same type as the reactors that suffered meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, will also get underway.

The nuclear watchdog will be responsible for carrying out an appropriate assessment of the country's reactors as well as for explaining their decisions to the public.