TEPCO Mulls Decommissioning Some Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Reactors

Tokyo, Oct. 9 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. is considering decommissioning one or some reactors at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in central Japan, excluding the No. 6 and No. 7 units, it was learned Thursday. This would mark the first reactor decommissioning at the plant, which straddles the city of Kashiwazaki and the village of Kariwa in Niigata Prefecture. The plant has seven reactors, all of which have been idled. TEPCO aims to restart the No. 6 and No. 7 reactors. Meanwhile, the company is considering setting up a 100-billion-yen foundation as a measure to make contributions to the host local communities. TEPCO hopes to gain their understanding for the restart of the two reactors by meeting local needs. TEPCO President Tomoaki Kobayakawa is expected to attend a committee meeting at the Niigata prefectural assembly Oct. 16 to explain the planned reactor decommissioning and the envisaged foundation. The foundation is expected to be used for industrial promotion and job creation in the prefecture. Yoshifumi Murase, chief of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, will also join the meeting to appeal for the necessity to restart the reactors. The company plans to prioritize putting the No. 6 reactor back online ahead of the No. 7 reactor. The Kashiwazak-Kariwa plant’s seven reactors can generate a total of 8,212,000 kilowatts of electricity, one of the world’s largest for a single nuclear power station. They have been suspended since March 2012, a year after the massive earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan. As the reactor resumption requires consent from relevant local governments, attention has been paid to the attitude of Niigata Governor Hideyo Hanazumi, who has yet to make his stance clear. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]