– Edited By Tom Lamar –
According to news reports, Japan Atomic Power Co said it would delay the October start of construction of two reactors at its Tsuruga nuclear plant in northern Japan due to safety checks.
Japan Atomic Power said the delay was due to longer than expected safety checks by the trade ministry. It gave no new date.
A spokesman also said the company was so far sticking to the scheduled start of commercial operations of the two nuclear units, but it may have to consider a delay depending on the timing of government approval.
The 1,538-megawatt No.3 reactor is planned to start operations in March 2016, and the 1,538-MW No.4 reactor in March 2017. A delay of years would affect Japan's goal of cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels. Japan is the world's fifth-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.
The 2020 goal is based on nine new nuclear units, including the two reactors, with a total of almost 13,000 MW in capacity being up and running as planned by 2020.
Japan Atomic had to submit applications twice to the trade ministry's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), reflecting stricter quake-resistance guidelines Japan introduced in 2006 and after a 2007 earthquake which caused a temporary halt of Tokyo Electric Power Co Inc's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant.
Of the nine planned units, two are under construction and Tokyo Electric plans to start building a 1,385 MW No.1 unit at its Higashidori plant in December, pending government approval.
Japan Atomic Power first submitted to NISA its plans for the two units in 2004. But it had to submit revised plans based on new geological data in October last year, a NISA official said.