Good bye to stress tests - New standards within 10 months

September 25, 2012

New nuclear regulatory body not to continue 'stress tests'

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20120925p2g00m0dm030000c.html

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's new nuclear regulatory authority will not continue the current procedure to assess the safety of reactors for their reactivation because it plans to create fresh criteria, the authority's head Shunichi Tanaka said Monday.

"We will not use 'stress tests' as our judgment criteria," Tanaka said in an interview with Kyodo News, referring to the two-stage safety examination process that the government introduced after the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi complex erupted in March last year.

Utilities seeking to restart reactors have submitted the results of the first phase of the stress tests to the authority's predecessor, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, which was to check the results.

Of the country's 50 surviving commercial reactors, results on 30 have been submitted and Kansai Electric Power Co.'s two reactors in Fukui Prefecture were put back online in July.

But Tanaka's remarks mean that utilities will have to go back to square one in trying to restart their reactors.

Tanaka also emphasized that he has "no intention" to decide on whether the submitted results of the stress tests are proper.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority, launched earlier this month as part of the country's efforts to enhance regulation in the wake of the Fukushima crisis, plans to formulate new safety standards within 10 months.