Japan moving towards permanent nuclear reactor shutdown
Ruling of active fault line may lead to reactor’s permanent closure
Experts judged on Wednesday that a reactor on Japan’s west coast is located on ground at high risk of an earthquake, setting in motion a process that will likely lead to the first permanent shutdown of a nuclear plant since the 2011 Fukushima crisis.
Mothballing the reactor at Japan’s oldest nuclear station would be the most stringent measure adopted in Japan since the meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear station north of Tokyo exposed failings in nuclear oversight.
All 50 reactors in the country were closed down for checks and only two have since been brought back on stream.
Reactors at five other nuclear stations are under review over the possibility they also sit on active faults.
A panel of seismologists advising the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) issued their assessment that a fault known as D-1 under the Tsuruga nuclear plant on Japan’s west coast is active. This paves the way for NRA to rule that the station is too risky to operate.
“Erring on the side of safety, we believe the D-1 faultline is active,” the panel concluded in its report.
“Safety levels [at Tsuruga] have been low and it is really just a matter of luck that there hasn’t been an accident,” Kunihiko Shimazaki, the head of the panel, said after the report was finalised. “We are taking the first steps to correct the situation.”
