By Nishio Baku<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nuclear Reactor Regulation Act Requires Revocation of Permit<\/strong><\/p>\n It was confirmed on August 2 at an extraordinary meeting of Japan\u2019s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) that the Tsuruga Nuclear Power Station Unit 2 reactor would not be allowed to restart. All five members on the committee, chaired by Yamanaka Nobusuke, were unanimous in instructing the NRA Secretariat to prepare a draft review document summarizing the failure to pass the review that Japan Atomic Power Co. (JAPC) had applied for to certify conformity of changes in reactor installation with the new regulatory standards. The draft review is expected to be approved in late August, after which public comment will be solicited for 30 days, with the official decision to withhold the permit handed down as early as October.<\/p>\n JAPC resisted this decision to the bitter end. They released a comment on August 2, saying \u201cIn preparation for the operation of Tsuruga Unit 2, we will make efforts to conduct additional surveys, obtain more data and so on and consider how we will deal with this in the future.\u201d On the 5th<\/sup>, General Manager Sakai Takeshi of the Tsuruga Head Office visited the Fukui Prefectural and Tsuruga City offices, reporting that the company would undertake additional investigations so that operations could resume and it would consider future measures.<\/p>\n Even if the modified reactor installation is not approved because it does not conform to the new regulatory standards, it does not mean that the permit for the original installation will be revoked. JAPC can apply for approval of changes in the reactor installation again just by saying, \u201cOur additional investigations indicate that the reactor conforms to the new regulatory standards.\u201d In this way, the current Nuclear Reactor Regulation Act is flawed\u2014although it stipulates that a permit for a reactor installation should be granted only when it is recognized as meeting the standards, it does not revoke the permit even if non-compliance is discovered subsequently.<\/p>\n One might argue half-jokingly that if obstruction of a review, such as through falsification of documents, is recognized as having prevented the plant\u2019s restart, perhaps it would be possible to revoke the approval through the provisions in Article 43, Item 3-20 of the Nuclear Reactor Regulation Act as a case of \u201cWhen operation of a power-generating nuclear reactor does not commence within the period specified in the NRA\u2019s regulations without a valid reason, or if the operation of a power-generating nuclear reactor is suspended for more than one year,\u201d but that is a real stretch.<\/p>\n This kind of situation is likely to arise in the future. Shouldn\u2019t the Nuclear Reactor Regulation Act be amended, with an added provision to revoke the permit of a reactor if it is found to be in non-compliance with the standards in the reactor installation permit?<\/p>\n Of course, even if the permit is revoked, it would still be possible for the company to reapply, starting from the reactor installation approval stage. Still, it would hopefully be clear that the reactor was not in a state that would allow its approval.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Shrill Denunciations from Nuclear Promoters <\/strong><\/p>\n The NRA\u2019s decision shocked Japan\u2019s \u201cNuclear Village\u201d (faction promoting nuclear power), who burst into what looked like a terminal fit of shrieking hysteria.<\/p>\n The Sankei Shimbun\u2019s \u201cShucho (assertions)\u201d editorial column on July 27 and August 7 repeatedly accused the NRA of demanding \u201cthe devil\u2019s proof.\u201d On the 7th<\/sup>, it declared, \u201cIsn\u2019t it the role of Kishida Fumio\u2019s administration to expunge the NRA\u2019s self-righteousness? Doesn\u2019t the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) have a \u2018Special Committee on Nuclear Regulation\u2019? The decision to withhold approval of Unit 2 was made when the Diet was not in session. We want Prime Minister Kishida to initiate an investigation to verify whether this safety review is valid or not. If we let this slide, Japan will fall into energy deficiency.\u201d On August 5, Sakurai Yoshiko\u2019s \u201cUtsukushiki Tsuyoki Kuni E (for a beautiful strong nation)\u201d series in the same newspaper was titled \u201cAkuma no Gotoki Kiseii no Shisen (the NRA has a gaze like the devil).\u201d<\/p>\n In Issue 8 of Energy Forum<\/em>, Specially Appointed Professor Narabayashi Tadashi of the Institute of Science Tokyo (previously Tokyo Institute of Technology) said, \u201cIf the NRA \u2018bases its judgments only on safety,\u2019 should they not let the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry have a driver\u2019s license?\u201d<\/p>\n Representative Ishikawa Kazuo of the Institute of Social Security and Economics chimed in, \u201cThe Electricity Business Act should be amended to give it the power to order operation\u2026If the government appoints people who do not like the way the NRA is run now, they may be able to break through this log jam.\u201d What a lame assertion.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Nishio Baku \u00a0 Nuclear Reactor Regulation Act Requires Revocation of Permit It was confirmed on August 2 at an extraordinary meeting of Japan\u2019s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) that the Tsuruga Nuclear Power Station...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,35,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-regulation","category-restart","category-safety"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7750"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7799,"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7750\/revisions\/7799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}