TOKYO: Japan moved a step closer to restarting nuclear reactors yesterday as four utility companies applied for safety inspection of 10 idled plants, the clearest sign of a return to atomic energy nearly two and a half years after the Fukushima disaster.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pushed for restarts since taking office in December, freezing the previous government’s nuclear phase-out plan. Resumption of nuclear power plants is part of his ruling party’s campaign platform in parliamentary elections in two weeks.
With all but two of the country’s 50 reactors offline since a tsunami swept through the Fukushima Daiichi plant in March 2011, Japan has been almost without nuclear energy that once supplied about a third of its power.
Four Japanese nuclear plant operators — supplying the regions of Hokkaido, Kansai, Shikoku and Kyushu — yesterday filed applications for inspections by the Nuclear Regulation Authority for 10 reactors at five plants under new safety requirements that have just come into effect. Applications for two more reactors are expected later in the week.
Reactors that pass the stricter rules will possibly be allowed to restart early next year, with each inspection expected to take several months. Critics say the rules have loopholes, including grace periods for some safety equipment.
Hit by soaring gas and oil costs to run conventional power plants to make up the energy shortfall, Japanese utility companies have lobbied hard to put their reactors back online. Nearly all utilities that own nuclear plants reported huge losses last fiscal year due to higher costs for fuel imports. Hokkaido Electric Power Co. said it has been hit with additional daily fuel costs of 600m yen ($6m) to make up for three idled reactors. Nuclear operators have requested rate hikes or plan to do so. AFP
