|
 With Japan in its first summer without nuclear power in four
decades, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pushing to restart the
country's nuclear sector, as a prolonged shutdown forces the nation
to rely on expensive fossil fuel imports.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority gave preliminary safety approval
for Kyushu Electric Co's 9508.T Sendai plant, accepting its upgraded
design and safety features. The new safety standards involve
safeguards against natural disasters, like earthquakes and tsunami,
and severe nuclear accidents.
The nuclear station could restart this autumn, September-November,
if it gains approval from the local communities.
"This is a step forward. After we get the safety decision we would
like to move towards restarts with understanding from local
(townships)," said Abe during a visit to northern Japan on
Wednesday, Jiji said.
Japan's reactors were gradually taken offline, with the last one
shutting down last year, after a massive earthquake and tsunami
crashed into the Fukushima Daiichi plant in March 2011, triggering
the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.
The Fukushima disaster shook public confidence in atomic power and
exposed close ties between the powerful nuclear industry and a
regulator that was overseen by a government arm that promoted the
energy source.
The NRA, an independent watchdog set up in 2012, has been vetting
restart applications for plants for over a year.
Regulatory officials held 62 hearings and pored through thousands of
pages of technical papers to assess upgraded safety features of the
Sendai plant.
"I believe we were able to compile this review with independence and
transparency while maintaining neutrality. I hope and wish that this
(process) will be able to garner the public's trust, but that is for
the public to decide," said NRA chairman Shunichi Tanaka.
Sendai's approval comes as a relief for Kyushu Electric, which has
posted three years of losses and asked for a bailout by a
state-backed bank. It expects to spend more than $3 billion to
upgrade its two nuclear plants in southern Japan.
The NRA decision will also help the broader nuclear industry. The
approval process for the five other plants with similar
pressurized-water reactors will likely go more quickly, said NRA
director Tomoya Ichimura. Nine of Japan's electric utilities have
applied to restart 19 reactors.
Japan's nuclear regulator said on Wednesday that its assessment of
Kansai Electric Power's 9503.T Takahama nuclear plant in western
Japan was moving along smoothly and was nearly complete on most
issues.
A restart of the Sendai plant would be a boost for Abe.
The blackout of Japan's nuclear industry, which supplied about
one-third of Japan's electricity before Fukushima, has led to rising
electricity rates for residents and businesses and has contributed
to a record string of 23 months of trade deficits.
[to top of second column] |
CRITICS SAY SAFETY CONCERNS REMAIN
Activists and protesters crowded the regulatory commission's open
meeting on Wednesday, yelling at commissioners to vote against the
safety review and to halt restarts.
In approving the Sendai plant, 980 km (600 miles) southwest of Tokyo
near the southern tip of Japan's main islands, the NRA is "ignoring
unresolved safety issues and rising public opposition," Greenpeace
said in a statement.
The plant has "no effective evacuation plan for the populations in
the region, in particular for the elderly, children and those in
hospital, no functioning emergency-response center protected against
radiation," the group said, adding that there have not been
sufficient assessments of the risks from a nearby volcano.
But the green light for Sendai does not mean a quick return for the
nuclear industry. At most about two-thirds of Japan's 48 reactors
will ever pass the regulator's stringent safety checks and clear the
other hurdles needed to restart, a Reuters analysis showed in April.
The NRA will seek public comment on the decision for a month before
issuing its final decision. Kagoshima prefecture, home to the Sendai
plant, will hold townhall meetings in municipalities closest to the
facility to explain the restart.
Abe's government has said it will defer to local communities to give
final approval on reopening nuclear facilities.
The pro-nuclear governor of Kagoshima and the mayor of Satsumasendai,
the plant's host city, are likely to approve the decision, but many
nearby townships oppose a hasty restart.
More than half the 30,000 residents in Ichikikushikino, a coastal
town 5 km from Sendai, recently submitted a petition opposing a
restart of the plant, citing an unrealistic and inefficient
evacuation plan.
Opponents of nuclear power have so far gained little political
traction, but a candidate backed by Abe's party lost a regional
election on Sunday, partly over concerns about nuclear safety.
(Additional reporting Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo; Editing by William
Mallard and Michael Perry)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright
2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
