UPZ extended to 30km-Fault under Oi plant will be surveyed

September 27, 2012

New N-disaster response plans on way

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120926003572.htm

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The Nuclear Regulation Authority plans to next month compile new guidelines on nuclear disaster management, the main pillar of which likely will be a significant expansion of the area in which urgent measures will be taken to protect residents in the event of a nuclear accident.

According to sources, the designation will apply to areas within a 30-kilometer radius of a nuclear power plant--triple the the current eight- to 10-kilometer radius.

At a regular meeting Wednesday, the recently launched authority decided to survey a fault under the Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture late next month. The survey at Kansai Electric Power Co.'s plant, whose Nos. 3 and 4 reactors were restarted in July, will be conducted jointly with outside experts.

Under existing government guidelines, areas within eight to 10 kilometers of nuclear plants are designated as nuclear disaster management priority areas. But after the crisis started at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in March 2011, a no-entry zone was set within a 20-kilometer radius of the plant, causing confusion among residents over whether to evacuate. In March this year, the Cabinet Office's Nuclear Safety Commission, which was abolished with the launch of the new authority, compiled draft revisions of the guidelines to expand the priority areas.

In line with the draft revisions, the new authority will compile new guidelines. Existing guidelines are regulations set internally by the safety commission. The new authority intends to make new guidelines sanctioned under special legislation concerning nuclear disaster management so local governments and other entities concerned would be required to obey them.

Under the envisaged guidelines, the urgent protective action planning zone (UPZ) for intensive priority measures will be expanded to 30 kilometers around nuclear plants. Residents within five kilometers of a plant will be asked to immediately evacuate if a nuclear accident occurs.

Based on the new guidelines, prefectural and municipal governments are expected to compile fresh disaster management plans by March to determine areas for priority measures and devise detailed evacuation plans for residents.

As for the fault under the Oi plant, the regulation authority decided to inspect an excavation survey that KEPCO conducted with outside experts who pointed out the fault could be active.

The authority decided it will conduct its own excavation survey if it deems KEPCO's survey to be insufficient.