Delay likely for Hokkaido restart

February 5, 2014

Construction may delay restart of Tomari reactor

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20140205_11.html

The operators of a nuclear power plant on Japan's northern main island of Hokkaido say they will start major construction to improve the safety of one of their reactors. The work will significantly delay their plan to restart the reactor.

Hokkaido Electric Power Company announced the work on the Tomari plant No. 3 reactor at a meeting on Tuesday with the Nuclear Regulation Authority or NRA.

Tomari is one of 6 nuclear plants that applied for NRA safety inspections in July. The inspections are required under new safety guidelines for restarting reactors.

The NRA has been assessing the safety of the plant's No. 3 reactor for more than half a year. The reactor has only one pipe for spraying water into the containment vessel in the event of an accident.

NRA officials say the reactor does not meet the government's safety standards because the operator's assumptions about the possibility of a malfunction are insufficient.

Hokkaido Electric Power officials say the planned construction work will take more than a few months.

NRA officials say the plant's No. 1 and 2 reactors are also not ready for safety inspections.

Inspection of the No 3 reactor is also hampered by estimates of the scale of an earthquake that could hit the plant.

Feb. 5, 2014 - Updated 04:37 UTC

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