nuclear-news

Yamaguchi Prefecture kills project for new nuclear plant

Yamaguchi rejects Chugoku Electric’s license for new nuclear plant http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201210050069 5 Oct 12,  THE ASAHI SHIMBUN YAMAGUCHI–Yamaguchi Governor Shigetaro Yamamoto has rejected a license extension to Chugoku Electric Co. to reclaim land for a new nuclear power plant in Kaminoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture effectively killing the project.

“We cannot grant permission at this moment. The decision has been made
not to grant the license,” Yamamoto told the news media on Oct. 5. The
license is set to expire Oct. 6.

The refusal marks the first time plans to build a new nuclear power
plant have been suspended since the Great East Japan Earthquake in
2011. Plans to build the No. 7 and No. 8 reactors at the crippled
Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant were scrapped in the wake of the
accident there.

With Yamaguchi Prefecture deciding not to grant the extension, Chugoku
Electric will not be able to proceed with construction of the
Kaminoseki plant.

There are currently plans to build 12 nuclear reactors, including
three reactors that have been under construction. On Oct. 1, Electric
Power Development Co. announced that construction would soon restart
after 19 months on a nuclear reactor in Oma, Aomori Prefecture, which
is slightly more than one-third complete.

The remaining nine reactors, including Kaminoseki, are in the planning
stages, such as in land acquisition.

Yamaguchi Prefecture’s move not to grant permission to the Kaminoseki
plant could affect plans for building other nuclear power plants.The
central government stated in its Innovative Strategy for Energy and
the Environment, released in September, that no more nuclear plants
must be built in principle. However, with it approving the resuming of
construction on the Oma plant, that called into question if the
government was serious about shuttering all its nuclear reactors by
the 2030s.

October 5, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, politics