Japan took another step toward restarting its first nuclear reactors since the Fukushima disaster, trying to avert electricity shortages this summer that could set back the country’s economic recovery.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and three of his Cabinet members — the group of four with the final say on reactor restarts — held talks last night on switching on two Kansai Electric Power reactors that have passed so-called stress tests introduced after the Fukushima meltdowns. Noda’s group “basically” approved the company’s safety measures for its reactors, the Nikkei reported today, citing Industry Minister Yukio Edano.
Kansai Electric Power President Makoto Yagi was in Tokyo yesterday to tell Edano, one of the Cabinet’s group of four, that “safety at nuclear plants is our top priority.” The company’s two reactors at the Ohi plant in Fukui prefecture on the coast about 95 kilometers (59 miles) northeast of Osaka would be the first restart of reactors closed after an earthquake and tsunami hit the Fukushima power plant.
Kansai Electric, the Japanese utility most dependent on nuclear power at 49 percent, has warned that if all its reactors stay offline during summer peak electricity demand, power shortages may follow.
Noda’s group may make a decision by the end of this week, according to an unattributed report in the Sankei newspaper.
The company serves the Kansai area of western Japan that has an economy worth $1 trillion — about the size of Mexico’s - - and is home to the cities of Osaka and Kyoto as well as factories of Sharp and Panasonic.
Companies such as Komatsu, the world’s No. 2 maker of construction machinery, have said they will move factories overseas if electricity supply isn’t guaranteed.
All but one
From supplying 30 percent of Japan’s electricity, all but one of Japan’s 54 reactors are now offline for stress tests after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami last year crippled Tokyo Electric Power’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear station.
The nuclear meltdowns poisoned an area about half the size of New York City with radiation fallout. About 160,000 people were forced to evacuate and many areas around the plant will be uninhabitable for decades.
Japan’s central government, while holding the legal authority to order the restart of reactors, has typically sought the approval from local authorities.
The Mayor of Ohi said safety measures taken so far at the plant are “sufficient,” Kyodo News reported, citing his comments at a press conference yesterday.
“It’s questionable to let the plant restart, but it’s a very difficult problem,” said Masataka Tamagawa, a Buddhist priest in Obama city, about 10 kilometers from the Ohi plant. “Many people in the city have a job related to Kansai Electric. It’s not easy to find work if the plant goes.”
