TEPCO seeks reactor restart / Resuming Niigata plant seen key to stable power supply

[FBaggins]

Tokyo Electric Power Co. has decided to apply to the nuclear regulating body to restart two reactors at its nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture by the end of July, after revised safety standards are implemented earlier that month, it has been learned.

...snip...

The application to the Nuclear Regulation Authority will be made for the Nos. 1 and 7 reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture. The move is expected to coincide with similar applications to be filed by four other operators for reactors at their five plants, according to officials. The reactors could be reactivated after passing the NRA’s safety inspections and obtaining consent from local governments. The reactors that the four utilities are applying to restart are at:

-- Hokkaido Electric Power Co.’s Tomari nuclear power plant in Tomari, Hokkaido.

-- Kansai Electric Power Co.’s Takahama nuclear power plant in Takahama, Fukui Prefecture.

-- Shikoku Electric Power Co.’s Ikata nuclear power plant in Ikata, Ehime Prefecture.

-- Kyushu Electric Power Co.’s Sendai nuclear power plant in Satsuma-Sendai, Kagoshima Prefecture, and Genkai nuclear power plant in Genkai, Saga Prefecture.

[kristopher]

1. Not so fast, there, Speedy...

That's from thevery right wing and very pronuclear Yomiuri Shimbun. Other papers are reporting that the operators are not prepared for application in July.

Perhaps this, which is later in the Yomiuri article, explains the difference in reporting.

Hirohiko Izumida, governor of Niigata Prefecture, which has signed a safety agreement with TEPCO, remains cautious over the reactivation the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant reactors.

“We won’t discuss resuming operations [of the reactors] until results of the review into the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 plant are presented,” he has said.

TEPCO’s study has revealed that faults beneath the buildings for the Nos. 1 to 3 reactors and the Nos. 5 to 7 reactors show signs of having shifted 200,000 to 330,000 years ago.

TEPCO has said they are not regarded as active faults under the current safety guidelines, but could be under the revised guidelines. As a result, the utility may be told to reinvestigate the matter.

[FBaggins]

2. Two of the five have confirmed that they plan to apply in July.

Other papers are reporting that the operators are not prepared for application in July.

Actually... what they "reported" is that they called all of the companies and nobody could/would tell them when they would meet standards that haven't been put out yet (not exactly groundbreaking reporting).

[kristopher]

3. That's according to your Xtra-rightwing pronuclear source...

However, according to Toyoshi Fuketa, the Nuclear Regulatory Agency Commissioner quoted in the left leaning Asahi:

None of Japan’s 16 nuclear power plants has satisfied the government's proposed new safety standards, making them ineligible to be restarted in the near future, according to an Asahi Shimbun survey.

For nine of the plants, operators even said they cannot tell when they can meet the new requirements being drafted by the Nuclear Regulation Authority.

The Asahi Shimbun contacted 10 electric utilities to check the progress in safety precautions they have made since the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in March 2011.

...

But Toyoshi Fuketa, an NRA commissioner in charge of the safety standards, said no utilities may be ready to submit applications for screening in July due to delays in implementing safety measures...

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201302240052

[FBaggins]

4. You mean "Bloomberg"?

They quoted the utility spokesmen by name.

However, according to Toyoshi Fuketa

Does "May" mean something different in Japanese?

[FBaggins]

5. So the Asahi Shimbum is left-leaning enough to be credible?

They now list four plants (eight reactors) planning to apply early... plus the Tepco intentions for July(ish) and the existing Oi restarts.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/112745139

No word on why their "survey" had such inaccurate results/reporting.

Time to admit that you "read" it wrong. The couple PWRs were an example of a larger class, not a limit of the units that could restart in the coming months.