Japan’s idled nuclear reactors could resume operations after passing the initial stage of stress tests to be conducted to ensure safety and reassure the public after the Fukushima disaster, the government said on Monday.
The four-month-old disaster at the Fukushima plant, which is still leaking radiation, has sparked a public debate about the role of nuclear energy in earthquake-prone, resource-poor Japan, which relied on atomic power for nearly 30 percent of electricity supply before the crisis.
It has also raised the prospect of power shortages potentially damaging to corporate Japan if reactors now off-line for checks and maintenance cannot be restarted.
The second stage of the stress tests, implementation of which was announced suddenly last week, will involve a comprehensive safety assessment of all Japan’s nuclear plants, the government added in a statement.
In a sudden shift in policy, Prime Minister Naoto Kan — under fire for his handling of the nuclear crisis — said last week that Japan would administer stress tests for nuclear plants modeled on those conducted by the EU after the meltdowns at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi atomic power plant.
The move was welcomed by critics who charge that Japan’s safety regulations have been too lax, but it also raised the risk of power shortages that would stretch into the summer of 2012 and could hurt industrial production.
Japanese utilities are now operating 19 of the country’s 54 reactors. The government had been pushing for early restarts of facilities that have completed regular checks to avoid a power crunch, but some local authorities whose approval is required by custom were outraged by the policy shift and said they could not give their OK until the government clarified its stance.
Kan has ordered a blank-slate review of Japan’s energy policy, which before the March 11 disasters had aimed to boost nuclear energy’s share of electricity supply to more than 50 percent by 2030.
He also wants to raise the share of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power to more than 20 percent by the 2020s and has made passage of a bill to promote such energy sources a condition for keeping a promise to resign.
The unpopular leader, already Japan’s fifth premier in five years, survived a no-confidence vote last month by pledging to hand over the reins to his Democratic Party’s younger generation, but has refused to specify when he will step down.
