Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) has adopted a draft screening report stating that unit 2 of Japan Atomic Power Co’s (JAPC’s) Tsuruga NPP in Fukui Prefecture does not comply with Japan’s new safety standards. NRA will decide whether to formally adopt the report after a month of public consultation.
Earlier in August NRA instructed its secretariat to go ahead with steps to formally reject a plan to restart Tsuruga 2 after officials concluded that the unit did not meet the strict safety regulations introduced following the 2011 Fukushima disaster.
The new safety standards, introduced in 2013, do not permit the installation of safety-critical equipment on an active fault line and NRA said it could not rule out the possibility that a fault line running under the reactor building may be connected to the nearby active “K Fault” some 300 metres north of the unit 2 reactor building. The conclusion was reported to NRA commissioners who upheld the judgment.
Although it will be effectively impossible to restart the 1,160MWe reactor if the report is formally adopted, JAPC has indicated that it will reapply for approval to get the reactor back online.
Regarding a fuel storage pool at the Tsuruga 2 reactor building where some 1,100 units of used nuclear fuel are stored, NRA judged that no additional safety measures would be required as there are no problems with the current measures.
After the safety screening of the Tsuruga 2 started in 2015, many problems were found in documents submitted by JAPC, including unauthorised revisions of geological data. The screening followed an unprecedented course, with the process halted twice and NRA issuing an administrative guidance to the plant operator.
