22 Feb (NucNet): Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) has approved draft reports confirming that the Ohi-3 and -4 nuclear reactor units in central Japan’s Fukui Prefecture, owned and operated by Kansai Electric Power Company, are compatible with new regulatory standards introduced after the March 2011 Fukushima-Daiichi accident.
The reports will be formally approved after a period of public consultation, the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum (Jaif) said.
According to Jaif, Kansai Electric will complete work in May on various safety measures, including constructing walls to protect seawater pumps that would cool the reactors in the event of certain types of emergency.
The units could be restarted this autumn, Jaif said.
All of Japan’s 48 commercial reactor units at the time were shut down for safety checks and upgrades following the Fukushima-Daiichi accident.
Three reactors – Sendai-1, Sendai-2 and Ikata-3 – have been restarted after clearing examinations under the new regulatory standards.
Takahama-3 and -4 were also restarted, but both have since been taken offline after a court issued a temporary injunction following a protest lodged by anti-nuclear activists.
