Japan will have no active nuclear reactor

TOKYO, April 26 (KUNA) -- Japan's only one active reactor will be shut down next week for regular maintenance, plant operator Hokkaido Electric Power Co. said, leaving the country without nuclear power ahead of the peak demand season of summer.
According to Hokkaido Electric, it will halt operations at the No. 3 reactor of its Tomari nuclear power plant in northern Japan on May 5 for regular inspections. With the shutdown, all of the nation's 54 commercial reactors will be offline, if none of the reactors currently idled for regular checks are allowed to resume operations by then.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's Cabinet has been seeking local governments' approval to restart two offline reactors at the Oi nuclear power plant in western Japan before the suspension of the Tomari No. 3 reactor, saying the Oi reactors meet the government's new safety standards for resuming operations. However, due to persistent public distrust, it is unclear if and when the government could gain approval.
No reactors in Japan shut for mandatory checks have resumed operation since the outbreak of radiation crisis at the Fukushima Daiichii nuclear plant in March last year. But amid growing public concerns about atomic power, the timing for when any reactors will be resumed still unclear, as the resumption also needs the approval of the local governments which host the nuclear reactors. Prior to the Fukushima complex disaster, 37 nuclear reactors across the country were operating, providing about 30 percent of Japan's power supply. The six-reactor Fukushima plant, located 230 km north of Tokyo, was badly hit by a magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami in March last year, which triggered the world's worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe. (end) mk.asa KUNA 261126 Apr 12NNNN