Kyushu Electric Power Co. shut down the No. 1 reactor at its Sendai nuclear power station in southern Japan, APNews reported. That move became the first one to go offline due to a delay in meeting the new regulations.
The company started its regular inspection on Monday to work on the requirement, among other safety measures. It will have to shut down another reactor at the Sendai plant in May also for failing to meet the requirement, meaning half of nine reactors will be taken offline because of the delinquency.
Japanese nuke power plant’s operator was forced to shut down one of its reactors on Monday because of a non-meeting the deadline for adding anti-terror safety facility. Earlier, such a measure was made mandatory after the Fukushima disaster.
Kansai Electric Power Co., Japan’s second-largest power company, is going to follow Kyushu Electric, the operator expected to have to shut down two reactors at its Takahama plant in western Japan in August and October.
The post-Fukushima regulation is very strict, it requires plant operators to build facilities for emergencies such as possible terror attacks and aircraft crashes within five years of approval of construction plans by the National Nuclear Regulation Authority.
In fact, Kyushu Electric aims to fulfil the requirement and complete other necessary safety measures and restart the reactor by the end of this year.
Japanese nuke plants ordered to make reforms to improve governance
In addition to the setbacks on safety measures, Kansai Electric (KE) has also come under fire over its compliance problems after exposure of its decades-old corruption between the company and Takahama, home to one of its nuclear power plants.
On Monday, KE president Takashi Morimoto was reprimanded by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and ordered to make organizational reforms to improve operational cycle and report back to the ministry by June.
The measure followed Saturday’s report by an independent committee that investigated the bribery scandal at the company’s nuclear power department.
