
Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) said it cannot be said with certainty that a fault line running directly underneath Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant’s Unit 2 would not move in the future at a review meeting with the power plant’s operator Japan Atomic Power Company (JAPC) on July 26, 2024, in effect indicating it will not approve the restart of the reactor.
JAPC’s President Mamoru Muramatsu said the company would like to analyze the problems pointed out with the documents it submitted and conduct any additional surveys that might be necessary. “We are not considering it,” said Muramatsu when asked by reporters whether the company is considering decommissioning the unit.
The final decision by the NRA is expected to be announced next week. The decision should state whether the NRA will meet JAPC’s request for additional surveying or whether Unit 2 will be denied approval under the new safety regulations. Should the latter happen, it will be the first time for a reactor to be denied a permission to restart since the NRA’s establishment in 2012.
Tsuruga Power Plant’s 1.16GW Unit 2 is the power plant’s only operational unit. JAPC decided to decommission the power plant’s 357 MW Unit 1, which was Japan’s oldest nuclear reactor, in 2015. Prior to the Fukushima nuclear disaster and finding that the power plant sits on an active fault line, JAPC had plans to add two 1.54 GW units to the power plant.
In addition to Tsuruga Power Plant, JAPC also owns the 1.06 GW Tokai Nuclear Power Plant, which is currently going through the safety upgrades necessary for its post-Fukushima nuclear disaster restart.
JAPC is owned by a group of Japan’s major utilities including TEPCO, Kansai Electric Power, Chubu Electric Power, Hokuriku Electric Power, Tohoku Electric Power, and J-Power. It is Japan’s only operator focused solely on nuclear power plants.