Chubu Electric Power Co. has produced a controversial plan to restart a reactor at its Hamaoka nuclear power plant on the shores of the Pacific in Shizuoka Prefecture to help alleviate a possible summer power shortage, but it remains unclear whether that will ever happen.
Chubu Electric Power Co. has produced a controversial plan to restart a reactor at its Hamaoka nuclear power plant on the shores of the Pacific in Shizuoka Prefecture to help alleviate a possible summer power shortage, but it remains unclear whether that will ever happen.
Local governments and residents are fiercely opposed to restarting the No. 3 reactor of what is described as "the world's most dangerous" nuclear power plant, which sits in the hypocenter of a long-predicted earthquake that could devastate the Tokai region.
Akihisa Mizuno, president of Chubu Electric, asked for the public's understanding of the utility's plan, citing a possible power shortage this summer if the region experiences record-breaking temperatures again.
"If we cannot get the Hamaoka plant back into full operation, it will become a lot harder for us to provide a stable supply of electricity," Mizuno said on April 28.
Mizuno acknowledged rising public concern about the safety of reactors, but said, "We have sufficiently confirmed they are safe and will take emergency steps to be prepared for tsunami to further bolster the safety."
Should a serious accident unfold at the Hamaoka nuclear power plant in Omaezaki in the prefecture, the implications would be far reaching, as the Tokaido Shinkansen Line and the Tomei Expressway--two key transportation arteries in Honshu--run within 20 kilometers of the plant.
Chubu Electric, which serves the Tokai region that includes Shizuoka, Aichi, Gifu, Nagano and Mie prefectures, on April 28 released its business forecast for the fiscal year ending March 2012.
The forecast assumes the controversial reactor will be put back into operation in July.
The No. 3 reactor was shut down earlier for a regular inspection and was due to restart in April.
But Chubu Electric decided on a provisional delay after the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, citing "a sharp decline in public faith in the safety of nuclear plants."
Whether it should resume operation of the No. 3 reactor has been much debated in the wake of the magnitude-9.0 temblor and tsunami that crippled the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO).
Local government leaders quickly blasted Chubu Electric for the plan.
"Our understanding is that (the utility's plan) to resume operation in July is aimed at its shareholders," Shizuoka Governor Heita Kawakatsu said April 28. "But it can't restart when the utility is not fully equipped with emergency measures, and the hobbled Fukushima No. 1 plant is in the middle of an unpredictable situation."
An Omaezaki official in the city's nuclear power policy section called the utility's plan pure "desk theory."
"Our policy remains unchanged: not to grant permission to restart the reactor until all residents are convinced of its safety," the official said. "Restarting is impossible under the current circumstances."
Meanwhile, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), which regulates Japan's nuclear power industry, took a cautious position on the Chubu Electric plan.
"We have not reached a conclusion (on the resumption of operations)," Hidehiko Nishiyama, a NISA spokesman, said April 28. "The company expressed its hope (to restart the No. 3 reactor) as the plant operator, but whether it can put it back into operation as planned is a separate issue."
Nuclear power plant operators across Japan may resume operation of reactors only after NISA confirms the results of regular inspections and emergency measures that the government instructed them to take following the quake and tsunami last month.
The NISA said earlier that it would not approve the Hamaoka No. 3's restart, according to its findings in the current investigation.
The utility intends to conduct sessions for local residents in an attempt to win their understanding of measures being undertaken to protect against a tsunami.
The Hamaoka plant, Chubu Electric's only nuclear facility, has five reactors, all boiling water reactors, as are those at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. A sixth reactor project is in the proposal stages.
The first two reactors, which went into operation in 1976 and 1978, respectively, were shut down in 2009 and are in the process of being decommissioned. The No. 3 reactor has operated since 1987.
Despite growing public concerns about the safety of nuclear reactors, the utility is pushing ahead with its plan to restart the No. 3 reactor, apparently because it believes it has taken more steps than other utilities to guard against possible disasters, including the expected Tokai quake that could reach a magnitude-8.0 class.
The company plans to build a breakwater at least 15 meters high between the sand dunes, which are 10 to 15 meters high, along the shoreline and the nuclear power plant, to deal with a tsunami reaching up to 8.3 meters high. Other steps are also planned.
"Even if a tsunami on a similar scale to the one triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake hits now, we feel sure the Hamaoka plant will not fall into a situation like the Fukushima No. 1 plant," Mizuno said.
But Hiroaki Koide, an assistant professor of nuclear engineering at Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute who has pointed out the Hamaoka plant's vulnerability for years, scoffed at Chubu Electric's decision.
"It is hard to believe (Chubu Electric) will restart (the No. 3 reactor) under the current circumstances," Koide said. "TEPCO ended up causing the (Fukushima) accident, even though it kept saying that it was 'confident' about the safety of its reactors."
Katsuhiko Ishibashi, a professor emeritus of seismology at Kobe University, called a restart of the No. 3 reactor before the company has fully implemented emergency steps "out of the question."
"The plant sits right on an active fault that could be involved in the expected Tokai earthquake," he said.
"Apart from the expected intensive shaking and massive tsunami, the ground could rise 1 to 2 meters. It is the world's most dangerous nuclear power plant. All its reactors should have been shut down."
For the time being, Chubu Electric doesn't need to operate the No. 3 reactor as it has a surplus power supply.
But the utility said it could be left with no extra supply if the country experiences another scorching hot summer like last year's record-breaking heat.
Japan has 54 commercial reactors. Of those, 12, including the Hamaoka No. 3, have been shut down for inspection.