TOKYO: Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. on Thursday submitted a plan to move nuclear fuel to the No. 7 reactor at its idled Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in central Japan as early as April 15.

TEPCO is seeking approval of the plan from the Nuclear Regulation Authority. It is still uncertain whether the 1.35-million-kilowatt reactor can be restarted because such a move requires the consent of local governments.

TEPCO plans to carry 872 fuel assemblies, now stored in a pool on the plant site, into the No. 1 reactor building if it receives approval from the regulatory watchdog.

According to TEPCO, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant manager Takeyuki Inagaki told a press conference, “Fuel transfer itself is one of the steps to confirm the robustness of the facility.”

The move “does not contradict the fact that local consent is required for a restart,” he was quoted as saying.

At the power plant in Niigata Prefecture, the No. 6 and No. 7 reactors in 2017 passed the NRA’s regulatory review needed to restart operations.

But later, a series of problems with its antiterrorism measures came to light, leading the regulatory body to issue a de facto ban on the operations of the power plant.

After conducting additional inspections from October 2021, the NRA lifted the ban in December last year, confirming an improvement in the situation at the plant.

Last week, government officials including Yoshifumi Murase, commissioner of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, visited Niigata to ask for understanding from local communities about the envisioned restart.

Niigata Governor Hideyo Hanazumi replied that there is a sense of anxiety among Niigata residents following the Noto Peninsula earthquake Jan. 1.

He also expressed a wish to examine government measures to ensure safe evacuations of locals in the event of an emergency when discussing the proposed restart.

JIJI Press