The Japanese Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued an administrative guidance decision on the 5th to suspend the safety review of Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant Unit 2 and to revise and resubmit some of the data.
Unit 2 of the Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant is located in Tsuruga City, Fukui Prefecture, near the Sea of Japan. It started driving in February 1987 and stopped driving in May 2011 due to a sudden increase in the concentration of radioactive substances in the coolant. In August 2011, after the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, operation was suspended for regular inspections.
According to NHK and Nihon Keizai Shimbun on the 5th, when errors were found one after another in the data submitted by the business operator, Nippon Nuclear Power (Nippon Nuclear Power Plant), during the review necessary for restarting Unit 2 of the Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission It was decided to suspend the review and request amendment of the application.
.The review of Unit 2 of the Tsuruga nuclear power plant was restarted in December of last year after about two years, and faced an unusual situation in which it was stopped again after only four months.
In the safety review surrounding Unit 2 of the Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant, it has been pointed out that the fault directly below the reactor may move in the future, attracted by an active fault passing nearby.
Nippon Nuclear Power Plant, the operator of Unit 2 of the Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant, refutes that there is no possibility of moving, but the review was suspended for about two years as errors and traces of correction were discovered one after another in the fault data and data submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, in the data submitted by the Nippon Nuclear Power Plant, it was found that in 2019 more than 1,000 places did not fill in the necessary information, and in 2020, it was confirmed that some data in the geological observation record by on-site excavation surveys were corrected. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission suspended the review in February 2020 because it was related to the evaluation of whether or not it was an active fault.
The Japanese nuclear power plant resumed the review in December of last year, saying that measures had been taken to prevent a recurrence, but a new error was discovered shortly thereafter, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been considering whether to continue the review.
At the meeting held on the 5th, the committee members came out with the opinion that it would be better to revise the application with responsible data at the company level and review it again, so it was decided to suspend the review and request that the application for the fault be revised and submitted by the end of August this year. .
At the meeting that day, a plan was proposed to withdraw all applications for review of Japanese nuclear power plants and to request a new application after a detailed investigation of the contents, but it was withdrawn on the grounds that ‘it takes a considerable amount of time to re-apply and the burden on the side of the review is heavy’. I decided not to ask for it.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission decided to call the president of Japan’s nuclear power plant sooner or later to confirm its intention, but NHK reported that an unprecedented situation in which the review was suspended again just four months after the resumption of review had occurred, requiring Japan’s nuclear power plant to respond strictly again.
The Nihon Keizai Shimbun said, “This company (NPP) is repeating errors in the description of necessary data, and in the past, the review was stopped due to mishaps such as unauthorized data change, but this time it was stopped again.” Passing the safety examination, which is the premise of “The Act,” has become unpredictable.”
If the Japanese government decides to suspend operation and shut down the Tsuruga nuclear power plant unit 2, it will be the first case of shutting down a nuclear power plant because there is a fault underground that has had an earthquake tens of thousands of years ago.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.