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Power companies hope for quick screening of nuclear plants

21 Comments
By MARI YAMAGUCHI

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21 Comments
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is not a perfect place to build nuclear plants

Duh, more like Japan is not a place to build nuclear plants, especially, since they also haven't mention volcanoes and hot springs, and size of the country precludes ability escape.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Looks like the NRA will be very busy dealing with the applications, as there are so many items to check. Would not surprise me if the same utilities which run the nuclear power plants will offer their own staff to help with the screening and safety checking process!

3 ( +3 / -0 )

quick screening = bad quality screening !

required to follow stricter rules about seismic faults at the plant and make sure faults running directly underneath reactors or other key facilities are not active.

Another Farce ! Asking the operators to report themselves a problem. Seismologists keep on claiming that OI plant is sited on active fault (probably 3) but no steps are taken to shut down that plant for good, in the contrary...

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Let me guess... they want to go online as of yesterday, with a promise to meet the safety standards over the next five years or so.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Critics say the new requirements still have loopholes that make things easier for operators, including a five-year grace period on installing some mandated new equipment.

You are allowed to operate but fix your problem within 5 years ? What kind safety commission is this ? Better change the word "screening" by "buck out" in the headline

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

@zichi - Power companies like KEPCO have been increasing their monthly power charges so when it restarts 4 reactors will it be decreasing those monthly charges?

I doubt it! They'll claim they need the money for the safety upgrades and future decommissioning costs!

3 ( +3 / -0 )

The earthquake didn't disable the reactors but the tsunami killed it. So, the real question to ask is which of the remaining plants have the same vulnerability? What is now known is the maximum water level that resulted from that earthquake and it may be the worst case. The logical thing to do is building a sea wall around the facility so that the water will pass around it and do no harm to the facility. By the way, there is another tsunami source to consider that is coming due. The Cascadia subduction fault caused an "orphan" tsunami that was recorded on 16 January 1700 in Japan at several locations which confirmed the Thunder Bird legend of the local natives of Washington State and confirmed geological evidence that suggests a period of about 300 years between events. Prudence would suggest preparing for that event.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

it's about time to let all the safe reactors get to work again ! With the declining yen, the coal & LNG bill is killing Japan.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

The report earlier this week stated it would take at least six months for the finding to be revealed after the testing was completed. Considering it is now the end of June and the legislation doesn't come into effect until July 8 I can't see how they expect to get any reactors operating this year, unless there is already some corruption going on.

jerobeam - Restarting the reactors will have very little effect on the declining yen or the cost of gas and oil. At the most, nuclear power only supplies one third of Japan's electricity needs. All this harping about the cost of oil and gas is only political grandstanding to gain voter favor and sympathy. It's also odd that you that you seem to think that nuclear power is Japan's economic savior. Japan's economic woes go far beyond fuel costs.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

How many times have I read here in the headlines over the years that such-and-such a nuclear plant failed to carry out safety checks?

Not just one check or two checks, but hundreds and hundreds of checks per any single plant, actually thousands in the case of Monju.

There seems to be a culture of reluctance to check plant equipment, even vital and essential checks. The word I am looking for to describe this problem is 'endemic', probably.

Am I optimistic that these new regulations will improve safety in Japan? Go figure....

1 ( +2 / -1 )

riiight, lets just wine and dine, keep things brief, sign off on the next disaster...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Makoto Yagi, Kansai Electric Power Co president and chairman of the powerful Federations of Electric Power Companies of Japan lobby, urged the watchdog to promptly finish the screenings to minimize the wait.

It's these people that have got to be kept in check.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

With the declining yen, the coal & LNG bill is killing Japan.

Some here may not like this truth, but that does not stop it from being the truth. The sudden absence of some 30 years of nuclear power has resulted in a 25% increase in electric utility costs across the board in Japan. These cost impact households and businesses alike and effectively stifle any sort of meaningful economic recovery.

Japan is hemorrhaging money in the form of dramatically increase utility costs and will continue to do so until it finds a suitable alternative (i.e., pie-in-the-sky alternative energy sources that are still some 20-50 years from viability), or turns the reactors back on.

It goes without saying that thorough inspections should absolutely take precedence over speedy. But it's long past time to be pragmatic about this; Those reactors have to come back online, like it or not.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

A 'quick screening' is just what is not needed.....,

0 ( +0 / -0 )

5 year grace periods on Mandates that are supposed to implement higher safety standards on nuclear reactors that are in zones that have a high probability of a major earthquake within the next 4 years....forecast is sunny and partly cloudy with 40% chance of nuclear fallout ahead.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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