Kyushu Electric Power Co. will suspend its two reactors next year after it failed to implement new terrorism prevention measures that were introduced by the Nuclear Regulation Authority following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japanese media reported on Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd October, 2019) Kyushu Electric Power Co. will suspend its two reactors next year after it failed to implement new terrorism prevention measures that were introduced by the Nuclear Regulation Authority following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japanese media reported on Thursday.The company is expected to halt the first two reactors at the Sendai nuclear power plant in the city of Satsumasendai in the Kagoshima Prefecture next spring, and restart them after making the necessary changes in December and January 2021, the Kyodo news agency reported.
This will become the first suspension under the stricter regulations set following the Fukushima Daiichi power plant disaster.
The nuclear reactors must be protected from potential terrorist attacks, as well as be able to cool via a remote control system and to stop the release of radioactive materials under the regulator's requirements introduced in 2013.
The halting of Reactors 1 and 2 will increase Kyushu Electric's costs by around 8 billion Yen ($74.7 million) a month, as it will need to substitute power generation with gas-fired stations, according to the media outlet.
The first reactor has already been suspended until November due to regular inspections, but will be restarted before halting again in March.
Before the 2011 disaster, Japan had generated about 30 percent of its electricity from nuclear reactors and even planned to increase this amount. However, many of the country's reactors were suspended or shut down completely following the tragedy that struck.
