11 Jun (NucNet): A local nuclear safety commission has endorsed a report prepared by prefectural officials stating that additional safety measures have been put in place and that two units at the four-unit Ohi nuclear power plant in Japan can be restarted.
The units, both 1,127-megawatt pressurised water reactors, have been offline for safety checks. In April 2012, the government decided the units were safe and should be allowed to restart, but not until the local authority had given its approval.
Last month, Japan’s last operating commercial reactor, Tomari-3, shut down, leaving the nation without any of its 50 commercial nuclear reactors in operation.
According to the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF), the local safety commission’s approval for the Ohi-3 and -4 restarts is a necessary step before the prefectural governor can accept the government’s proposal to bring the units back online.
Neither JAIF nor the plant’s operator, Kansai Electric Power Company (Kepco), have said when they expect the units to restart.
Prime minister Yoshihiko Noda said last week that the units must be restarted to prevent power shortages this summer in Kepco’s service area, JAIF said.
It would be the first restart of idled reactors since the accident at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant in March 2011.
The safety commission’s report examined the central government's investigation into the causes of the Fukushima-Daiichi accident and responses such as safety tests and safety measures implemented by Kepco.
Reactors around Japan are undergoing safety checks in the wake of the Fukushima-Daiichi accident.
Following the accident, the government’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) ordered two-stage stress tests on all Japan’s nuclear reactors.
Preliminary assessments examine a plant’s ability to survive beyond design basis events and are being carried out during planned periodic inspections for nuclear power plants that are ready to start-up.
Secondary “comprehensive” safety assessments are being carried out on all nuclear plants, including those that are subject to the preliminary assessments. NISA said the secondary assessments take into account the stress tests in European countries and reviews by Japan’s Fukushima-Daiichi Investigation and Verification Committee.
