The Tokyo Electric Power Company, owner and operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiihi nuclear power plant, has turned to the International Atomic Energy Agency for help evaluating is shuttered Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant.
TEPCO is reportedly turning to international experts to evaluate the plant because its credibility is so low in Japan that a restart of its other generating facility could be held up or denied simply because trust in TEPCO in Japan is parched, according to local media.
IAEA began an inspection of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa facility on Tuesday. It is expected to take 11 days evaluating the plant, which could bump TEPCO profits by $260 million per month if it is turned back on, according to The Japan Times.
IAEA is expected to add credibility to a Kashiwazaki-Kariwa evaluation, but also “knowledge, ingenuity, and engineering capabilities,” to the process, TEPCO chief nuclear officer Takafumi Anegawa told reporters a news conference. The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant could cost “at least” $2.1 billion in upgrades before it is re-started. TEPCO is aiming to restart two of the plant’s seven reactors.
The Nuclear Regulatory Authority in Japan has not commented on the IAEA inspection. Nor has the agency given TEPCO a timeline for when it could expect to bring Kashiwazaki-Kariwa back on line, despite several visits to the power plant since 2013.
The TEPCO facility is also said to face “huge” political opposition to its return to service, although it could contribute to the government’s plan of using nuclear power for 22 percent of its electricity generation.
TEPCO also runs the Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant, a four-BWR-5 reactor plant, which was also endangered by a tsunami event after the Great East Japan Earthquake. That plant is said to be even more of a political risk due to its association with the Fukushima Daiichi plant.