nuclear-news

Safety finding about Tsuruga plant brings gloom to Japan’s nuclear utilities

Japan Utilities Plunge After Fault Found Under Nuclear Plant, Bloomberg, By Tsuyoshi Inajima – Dec 10, 2012 Kansai Electric Power Co. led declines in Japan’s utilities after geologists said an earthquake faultline may be active under a nuclear plant that houses the country’s oldest reactor. Kansai Electric shares fell as much as 9.7 percent, their biggest
intraday decline since Oct. 23, and closed 4.4 percent lower at 742yen in Tokyo. The Topix Electric Power & Gas Index fell 1 percent.

The company is the second-biggest stakeholder in Japan Atomic Power Co., which runs the Tsuruga nuclear plant on the coast 127 kilometers (79 miles) northeast of Osaka that was examined by geologists this month. The finding was announced yesterday and may lead to decommissioning of the unit.

“The assessment raises the risk” that the nuclear watchdog will come to a similar conclusion for other atomic generators under investigation, Reiji Ogino, a Tokyo-based analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley, said by phone today.
Kansai Electric’s Ohi plant, which houses Japan’s sole operating
reactors, is among six nuclear facilities being investigated by the
Nuclear Regulation Authority for possible active fault lines. The
utility is carrying out additional investigations after an NRA team
was divided over whether a fault under the Ohi station is
active…….
’No Way’
“There is no way we can carry out safety assessments to allow a
restart as matters stand,” Shunichi Tanaka, the NRA chairman, said
yesterday on the Tsuruga reactor.
The five scientists conducted a two-day on-site survey at the plant
about 30 kilometers north of Lake Biwa, which supplies drinking water
for the Kansai region, Japan’s second biggest metropolitan area. Japan
Atomic is owned by the country’s 10 regional power companies. Tokyo
Electric Power Co., the largest stakeholder in the utility, fell as
much as 4.3 percent, before closing 1.4 percent lower at 138 yen.
The NRA will discuss the Tsuruga plant as early as tomorrow based on
the finding by the scientists, spokesman Gyo Sato said by phone
today…… http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-11/japan-utilities-plunge-on-faultline-warning-under-nuclear-plant.html

December 13, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, Japan