Ehime gov. approves reactor restart in 3rd case under tougher rules

The Yomiuri Shimbun The governor of Ehime Prefecture said Monday he has agreed to the restart of the No. 3 reactor at Shikoku Electric Power Co.’s Ikata nuclear power plant, which would end the hiatus at the facility that started in April 2011.

Kyushu Electric Power Co.’s Sendai No. 1 and No. 2 units on Japan’s southern island of Kyushu are the only reactors to clear the regulator’s safety standards, receive local approval and resume operation under post-Fukushima rules.

Ehime Gov. Tokihiro Nakamura met with Shikoku Electric Power President Hayato Saeki on Monday morning at the prefectural government building to convey his decision.

“There is no change in the government’s policy of proceeding with the restart of reactors that meet the Nuclear Regulation Authority’s stringent regulations by gaining local understanding” of restarts, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a regular press conference.

The Ikata plant will be the second of its kind, since new nuclear regulatory standards were enforced in 2013, to be restarted with a consensus among pertinent local authorities.

The NRA, for its part, noted that as the utility works on securing more local support, as both the mayor of Ikata town and the local assemblies have already signed off on the restart, the reactor’s restart will go ahead as long as new designs of equipment have been inspected and approved.

Nakamura was scheduled to convey his decision to industry minister Mikio Hayashi in Tokyo later in the day. The radius denotes the area for concentrated disaster prevention measures.

The No. 3 reactor at the Ikata plant began commercial generation of electricity in December 1994.

Japan ended a almost two-year period without nuclear power in August when one of the Sendai reactors run by Kyushu Electric Power Co.in southwestern Japan was brought back online amid continuing public concerns about nuclear energy.

The Ikata reactor was converted in March 2010 to plutonium-thermal (pluthermal) power generation, which burns mixed oxide (MOX) fuel that contains plutonium extracted from spent nuclear fuel. Additional inspections will be required before the unit resumes operations. Last week officials said a man who had worked at Fukushima after the crisis had been diagnosed with the first confirmed case of radiation-linked cancer, a revelation likely to fan fears about nuclear power.