The operator of the crisis-ridden Fukushima nuclear plant has applied to restart another nuclear facility in western Japan – despite clear-up works still being carried out at the damaged plant.
Tepco has applied to Japan’s nuclear regulator for safety checks on two reactors at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant as it looks to restart the station for the first time since March 2012.
Niigata Governor Hirohiko Izumida, who has been critical of Tepco’s handling of the Fukushima disaster and clear-up, said he’d allow the safety check application, albeit with conditions.
The company, which posted a $6.9billion loss last year, calls Kashiwazaki-Kariwa key to its return to profitability, and warned that if it could not restart operations, it would have to raise energy costs in Japan by up to 10%.
“We don’t want to raise electricity rates as much as possible,” Tepco president Naomi Hirose said. The application “is one step forward,” he said.
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, 137 miles northwest of Tokyo, consists of seven reactor units ranging in age from 16 years to 28 years. Tepco is looking to set up a secondary venting system at the plant, which is the world’s largest nuclear power station by generating capacity
Approval for the reactors located in his prefecture will be revoked should Tepco fail to control levels of radiation exposure for residents after installing vents, Izumida said yesterday in a statement to the utility’s president.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe this month vowed to end the country’s “ad hoc” response to the Fukushima nuclear disaster of March 2011. The government plans to spend 47 billion yen to stop leaks of radioactive water after the utility reported that 300 tons of water had spilled from one of more than 1,000 storage tanks at the plant.
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