I post four links of nuclear related news each day. I have posted many links to articles about the Fukushima disaster in March 2011 in Japan. Today I am going to write about events in the attempt to restart the fifty four idle Japanese reactors in spite of widespread public opposition. Prime Minister Abe has made expanding nuclear power and exporting nuclear technology a centerpiece of his plans to revitalize the Japanese economy.
After the disaster at Fukushima, all the nuclear power reactors in Japan were turned off. There was a serious review of what happened at Fukushima. A new regulatory agency called the Nuclear Regulatory Agency was created to handle nuclear power plants. New safety regulations were drafted and a review of geological faults under nuclear plants was carried out. Individual nuclear plant operators are currently petitioning the government for permission to restart their nuclear reactors. Japan is paying higher prices for electricity with the reactors shut down.
One of the major problems with the Fukushima disaster was the fact that their emergency control center was too close to the reactors. It suffered radioactive contamination and communication equipment failures that made dealing with the disaster much more difficult.
One of the new rules that was passed after Fukushima mandates that all nuclear power plants have off-site emergency control centers. These control centers are supposed to be located between three miles and eighteen miles away from the power plant. The control centers are to be equipped with ventilation and other protective systems to prevent radioactive contamination during emergencies. There are also supposed to be multiple emergency centers in each prefecture so that if one center is crippled in an emergency, another control center can take over. The deadline for construction of the emergency centers is September 2015.
Kagoshima prefecture has reported that the construction of an emergency center for the Sendai plant is behind schedule. They say that discussions with the Japanese central government are responsible for the delay. They say that an ventilations system and emergency power generator will be in place by March of 2015. A backup facility for the emergency control center is scheduled for completion by October of 2015. There is already a backup control center for the Sendai plant so it should be able to start operating in the autumn of 2015 if it passes the NRA safety review. The emergency centers are not part of the NRA safety review.
The construction of emergency control centers for nuclear power plants around Japan has suffered numerous delays. There are existing emergency control centers at some nuclear power plants but they will have to be moved to be at least three miles away from the power plant.
The new regulations are a good start at preventing another Fukushima disaster. Only time will tell if the companies operating the nuclear power plants and the Nuclear Regulatory Agency will adhere to the new standards. Given problems with corruption and incompetence in the Japanese nuclear power industry in the past, these new regulations may not be effectively implemented and monitored.
Sendai nuclear power plant:
