nuclear-news

Regulator’s stop to restarting Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant a blow to nuclear company Tepco.

Japan Times 14th April 2021, Japan’s nuclear regulator decided Wednesday to effectively ban Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. from restarting its largest nuclear plant due to serious safety flaws, dealing a blow to the utility’s efforts to turn its business around following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority formally decided to bar Tepco from transporting nuclear fuel stored at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture or loading it into reactors. The company has seen restarting the seven-reactor Kashiwazaki-Kariwa complex, once one of the world’s largest nuclear plants by output, as a main pillar of its
business restructuring plan.

The plant was found to have been vulnerable to unauthorized entry at 15 locations since March last year because of
defective intruder detection systems and backups, according to the NRA. It is the first time the regulator has issued a corrective order for a commercial nuclear reactor.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/04/14/national/tepco-nuclear-plant-restart-ban/

April 15, 2021 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized