- Kansai Electric has submitted a detailed timetable for meeting Japan’s new medium and long-term safety standards. All short–term standards have already been met. The new standards call for filtered ventilation systems for all containment buildings to minimize the release of radioactive material. In addition, emergency measures will be taken to prevent serious accidents during a complete blackout. Further, bigger, more robust tsunami break-walls will be built and new anti-seismic buildings will be erected for emergency teams and management to assemble. The enhancement of cooling and power-supply facilities was also included. Kansai Electric Power Co. President Makoto Yagi said the firm is dedicated to taking every measure to improve the safety and reliability of its plants. P.M. Noda is expected to make a restart decision on Oi units #3 & 4 in the next few days. If the reactors are not activated, the areas covered by Kepco are expected to face a power shortage of up to 19.3 percent in summer, which makes reactivation likely. (Yomiuri Shimbun)
- Nuclear critics don’t like the Kansai “road map” one bit. Some said resumption before making key protections would leave the plant vulnerable. Tadahiro Katsuta, a Meiji University associate professor said the upgrades completed are “mostly quick-fix measures” and that more important ones, such as a crisis management center, have been put off. “I doubt if this would suffice to carry out the lessons from Fukushima in the case of another accident,” he said. On the other hand, Oi town mayor Shinobu Tokioka called the roadmap a “step forward.” Starting up the reactors typically takes one or two days after approval is granted. Local consent is not a legal requirement for restarting the reactors, but has been a de-facto condition for restarts since last summer. (Yomiuri Shimbun)
- Trade minister Yukio Edano says the Oi reactors have “more or less” met all conditions for restart. He said Kepco has already fulfilled enough of the extra safety steps to prevent meltdowns from happening during power outages. Edano also added the government now believes Oi’s reactors can survive a station blackout like the one that doomed the Fukushima No. 1 power station. “We have confirmed safety measures have been taken to prevent escalation of an accident,” Edano said. Noda, Edano, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura and nuclear disaster minister Goshi Hosono will assess projections for electricity supply and demand this summer in Osaka and other parts of west Japan the utility serves, before determining whether they should seek residents’ permission to fire them up. Edano told Kepco to explore the utility’s chances of hastening the plans. (Japan Times)
- Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto and the governors of Kyoto and Shiga want the Oi rectors to remain closed. They want to know how the government and Kepco have arrived at a ~20% electricity short-fall this summer. Hashimoto, whose advisers include critics of such predictions like Tetsunari Iida of the Institute of Sustainable Energy Policies, called on both the central government and Kepco to provide a thorough explanation, backed by data, of how they arrived at such a conclusion. “Is it really the case we’re facing such a severe shortage? “ Shiga Gov. Kada asked. The dissident governor’s toughest demand is gaining restart agreements with towns and villages within 100 km of the Oi reactors. Plus, Hashimoto wants a complete revision of Japan’s energy supply incorporating renewables and smart grids, but, “If the Oi reactors are simply restarted, nothing about the electricity supply system will change,” Hashimoto said. (Japan Times)
- Today, Hashimoto took dead aim at the Tokyo government for suggesting restarts are possible. He is against Kepco restarting any of its 11 nuclear reactors because he is not convinced that stress results were sufficient to indicate the reactors’ safety. “The DPJ believes that only the central government has the authority to make such a decision,” he was quoted as saying by NHK. “They think they can make decisions about everything and ask local governments to accept those decisions. If they ignore voters’ feelings on this issue, then voters will send them a message at the next election.” On Tuesday, he outlined eight conditions, put forward by a panel of experts at an energy summit. They include widening the area of consent, in which Kansai Electric must get local residents’ approval, out to 100 kilometers around the Oi plant. Other conditions include that stress tests must be based on more stringent criteria, a nuclear regulatory agency must be independent of the government and a permanent disposal site for spent nuclear fuel needs to be found. (Japan Times) In another article, Hashimoto is thought to be merely jumping on a timely “vote winner” for the upcoming elections. (Asahi Shimbun)
- Industry minister Edano says the safety of Oi units #3 & 4 has been “generally confirmed”. In other words, the four ministers examining the data from Kepco believe it at least meets the intent of the new regulations. However, a final official decision on whether or not to allow the rectors to restart was not issued. That pronouncement is expected later this week at the next meeting. Edano said at the news conference, “We’ll continue to discuss safety confirmation and the necessity [of reactivating the reactors] in consideration of power supply and demand [at the next meeting].”The government’s new guidelines consist of two stages: (1) Confirmation of preventive measures to avoid a worst-case scenario in which a reactor loses all power sources due to an earthquake or tsunami, as well as confirmation of emergency measures to maintain cooling functions to prevent a meltdown during a severe accident. (2) Require power utilities to submit medium- and long-term measures to improve nuclear reactor safety.
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