Japan to restart 1st reactor under new rules since crisis

The head of Japan’s atomic watchdog said the new safety regime meant a repeat of the Fukushima disaster would not happen, but protesters outside the Sendai plant think otherwise.

The March 2011 quake and tsunami that wrecked the Fukushima Dai-Ichi station north of Tokyo was an unprecedented accident that led to the shutdown of all Japan’s reactors and shifted attitudes globally on nuclear, with Germany vowing to eventually phase out atomic power. Some 140,000 residents were evacuated from the area due to a major leakage of nuclear materials.

An estimated 25 out of 43 reactors are hoping to get the green light and obtain restart permits. The No. 1 reactor is expected to reach full capacity next month, while the second reactor is likely to be restarted in October, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

A successful restart would mark the culmination of a process whereby reactors had to be relicensed, refitted and vetted under tougher standards that were introduced following the disaster.

“The Sendai restart is obviously a very big positive for the industry overall and for Kyushu in particular”, Polina Diyachkina, an analyst at Macquarie Group Ltd.in Tokyo, told Bloomberg, on Monday. “I would like Kyushu Electric to put safety first and take utmost precautions for the restart”.

Underneath the essential power plan adopted by the Cupboard final yr to maintain nuclear energy as a key power provide for resource-poor Japan, the federal government earlier this yr set a aim to have nuclear energy meet greater than 20 per cent of the nation’s power wants by 2030.

Despite the push by the government and utilities for nuclear restarts, a majority of Japanese are opposed to a return to nuclear energy.

The plant is located 50 kilometres from the active Sakurajima volcano.

There is still strong opposition to nuclear power in Japan since the meltdown and radiation leaks at Fukushima.

The announcement came on Monday despite the public’s disdain for nuclear power following the Fukushima disaster in 2011.

The initial reaction of Japan’s government after Fukushima was the same as Germany’s – phase out nuclear power.

“Remember, the three reactors that suffered meltdowns at Fukushima were more than 30 years old”.

With its nuclear fuel recycling program stalled and plutonium stockpiles triggering global concerns, Japan is under pressure to use as much of its stockpiles as possible in its reactors.

U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and worldwide Security Rose Gottemoeller told journalists in a teleconference that Japan should complete its pending fuel recycling program and burn plutonium as fuel called MOX at reactors.

“If there’s going to be a plutonium program, reprocessing program, the flip aspect of it’s that there needs to be a really vigorous MOX program and that the MOX truly needs to be burned in energy crops”, Gottemoeller stated.