Japan nuke plant gets safety clearance
A nuclear power plant in southern Japan cleared an initial safety hurdle on Wednesday, which could make it the first such facility to restart under tough new safety regulations after the industry was idled by the 2011 Fukushima disaster.
With Japan in its first summer without nuclear power in four decades, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pushing to restart the country's nuclear sector. A prolonged shutdown forces the nation to turn to expensive fossil fuel imports.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority gave preliminary safety approval for Kyushu Electric Co's Sendai plant, accepting its upgraded design and safety features. The new safety standards involve safeguards against severe nuclear accidents and natural disasters.
The nuclear station could restart this fall if it gains approval from local communities.
"This is a step forward. After we get the safety decision we would like to move toward restarts," Abe said during a visit to northern Japan on Wednesday. Understanding from local residents is essential, he said.
Japan's reactors were gradually taken offline, with the last one shutting down last year, after a massive earthquake and tsunami crashed into the Fukushima Daiichi plant in March 2011, triggering the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.
The Fukushima disaster shook public confidence in atomic power and exposed close ties between the powerful nuclear industry and a regulator that was overseen by a government arm whose purpose was to promote the energy source.
The NRA, an independent watchdog set up in 2012, has been vetting restart applications for plants for over a year.
(China Daily 07/17/2014 page11)
