Tepco wants to restart two reactors

Fukushima operator seeks nuke watchdog’s permission to reopen

TOKYO: Fukushima operator Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) asked Japan’s nuclear watchdog for permission to restart a separate atomic power station, as it resumed cleaning polluted water at the crippled plant.

Tepco switched on treatment systems at the tsunami-wrecked site, seen as key to winning public support for the eventual dumping into the ocean of thousands of tonnes of now contaminated water.

The developments came as the head of the UN’s nuclear body said his organisation could help Japan’s ocean monitoring efforts to ensure that they conform to international norms – key if Tokyo is going to overcome worldwide suspicion over the effect on the seas.

“We at Tepco have learnt the lessons from the Fukushima Daiichi plant and we think sharing the lessons with the world is our obligation,” senior Tepco official Takafumi Anegawa told reporters after documents were submitted to the Nuclear Regulation Authority.

Tepco wants permission to refire two of the seven reactors at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa plant, and bring some of its nuclear fleet back online to help soften the blow from burgeoning fossil fuel bills.

While other utilities have put in applications for reactor safety assessments by the watchdog, this is Tepco’s first and came the day after local leaders gave their blessing to the move.

The company – not known for being fleet of foot in public relations – had previously waltzed into hot water after announcing that it would talk to regulators before consulting politicians in

We at Tepco have learnt the lessons from the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant and we think sharing the lessons with the world is our obligation. — TAKAFUMI ANEGAWA

the plant’s host prefecture.

The NRA assessment is expected to take at least six months. If the reactors are given the green light, Tepco will then have to seek permission from politicians locally and nationally.

Separately, Tepco said that it had resumed the trial of a water treatment system at Fukushima that had been suspended because of corrosion problems.

The processing system is intended to remove most of the radioactive materials from contaminated water.

The utility hopes that if it is able to clean the water it currently has stored in tanks at the site, it will be allowed to dump it in the sea.

Contaminated water is accumulating at Fukushima and Tepco currently has no long term solution for it.

On Thursday in Vienna, Yukiya Amano the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency offered his organisation’s expertise in monitoring radioactive materials in the ocean. — AFP