TOKYO - Japan's nuclear watchdog on Wednesday said it would revise regulations and extend the deadline to build antiterrorism facilities for nuclear power plants, moving the five-year start date to the beginning of operations rather than the approval of the plants' planning and construction.
The move by the Nuclear Regulation Authority, effectively seen as an easing of restrictions, will allow the ongoing operations of the No. 2 reactor at the Onagawa nuclear plant in Miyagi Prefecture, which was expected to shut down due to a failure to meet a construction deadline in December this year.
While 12 nuclear plants in the country have antiterrorism facilities, just the No. 4 unit at the Oi nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture was able to implement it within the initial time limit.
The watchdog compiled a draft revision in June and solicited public opinions, but received criticisms that the facilities should be completed before the nuclear plants begin operating and that the authority was capitulating to power companies.
The amendment will be applicable to plants that have not yet met their deadlines.
While the No. 2 reactor at the Onagawa plant was slated to be suspended by August 2028, it will now be permitted to continue operating through December 2029. The deadline for the No. 6 unit of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture will be extended from September 2029 to April 2031, and that for the No. 2 unit at the Shimane plant will be pushed back from August 2028 to January 2030.
The watchdog mandated antiterrorism facilities, consisting of a control room, pumps, and other equipment, after the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster and are designed to handle events including targeted aerial attacks.
Regardless of whether they were restarted, plants that failed to construct them by the deadline would have been shut down.
