The government will conduct earthquake and tsunami stress tests on all commercial reactor cooling systems to assuage public fears pending restarts of offline reactors, industry minister Banri Kaieda said July 6.
The government will conduct earthquake and tsunami stress tests on all commercial reactor cooling systems to assuage public fears pending restarts of offline reactors, industry minister Banri Kaieda said July 6.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), which oversees nuclear power generation, is working out a schedule for the tests.
The tests could delay the planned restart in summer of two reactors at the Genkai nuclear plant in Saga Prefecture that have been shut down for maintenance.
Kaieda said the stress tests will be done to allay safety concerns by local governments and the public over the restart.
"We don't think we've done enough to get the municipalities surrounding the Genkai nuclear plant onboard the restart," Kaieda said. "We believe the plant is safe, but we want to provide further reassurances."
The ministry urged the Saga prefectural government late last month to restart the two reactors, operated by Kyushu Electric Power Co., after scheduled maintenance was completed and the reactors passed emergency safety checks.
Local officials in Saga Prefecture basically gave the OK to restart when Kaieda called for their cooperation.
If the reactors are put back online this summer, they would be the first in the country since the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant started on March 11.
The fate of the reactors at the Genkai plant is being closely watched by other local governments hosting nuclear plants.
In response to Kaieda's announcement on July 6, Saga Governor Yasushi Furukawa said he will likely delay his decision on restart from the middle of this month to August.
The tests come after the European Union began stress tests at nuclear power plants in June.
The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), regulator of the nuclear industry, will decide what the tests will entail, taking the EU regimen into consideration, and after talking with the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan at the Cabinet Office. NISA is part of METI.
NISA's official stand is that the nation's reactors are already safe.
But one goal of the tests is to determine how big a safety cushion the reactors have, especially when dealing with natural disasters that transcend "expectations."
Local governments with nuclear power plants are likely to make their reactor restart decisions after the ministry provides the results of the tests.
NISA instructed plant operators in March and June to put in place emergency power source vehicles and equipment to prevent hydrogen explosions to prepare for the event of a total loss of power.
Kaieda called for restart of the reactors on June 18, saying the utilities have taken "appropriate" measures.
Still, the steps did not appease local governments.
While Furukawa agreed to the restart, the municipal government of Karatsu in the vicinity of the Genkai plant as well as Nagasaki and Fukuoka prefectural governments expressed doubts about the reactors' safety.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan indicated July 6 that it would be difficult to agree to Furukawa's request for a meeting under present circumstances.
"We have to establish basic plans for the restart," Kan told a meeting of the Lower House budget committee.
If the reactors shut down for inspection are not placed back in operation, the nation's entire fleet of 54 reactors will, like dominos, shut down by May 2012.
That would prolong a feared power supply shortage until next year, not just this summer.
Kaieda said the ministry will take necessary steps not to jeopardize the nation's power supply with the planned stress tests.
(This article was written by Tetsuo Kogure and Tatsuyuki Kobori.)