Japan's nuclear regulators concluded Friday that the Tsuruga No. 2 reactor does not meet stricter safety rules imposed after the Fukushima crisis, saying that a fault running underneath the offline unit could be active.
It is the first time the Nuclear Regulation Authority has effectively decided not to approve a plan to restart an idled reactor under post-Fukushima regulations. The nuclear disaster was triggered by a powerful earthquake and ensuing tsunami that hit northeastern Japan in March 2011.
Japan Atomic Power Co., the operator of the Tsuruga nuclear power plant in the central prefecture of Fukui, requested that regulators continue their safety assessment during their meeting. It applied in 2015 to restart the reactor.
"We will conduct additional research. We are not thinking of scrapping" the unit, Japan Atomic Power President Mamoru Muramatsu told reporters in Mihama, Fukui.
In quake-prone Japan, establishing nuclear plants or other important facilities directly above faults is prohibited under the new safety rules.
In May 2013, geological experts for the NRA stated that a fault running underneath the No. 2 reactor was active, but Japan Atomic Power applied for a safety review in November 2015, rejecting their claims.
The assessment process for the reactor has been rocky, with the regulator having faced a temporary two-year suspension after it was revealed the operator had submitted documents with over 1,000 inaccuracies and rewritten data without approval.
The review process was suspended again in April 2023 over faulty documents presented by the operator.
The Tsuruga nuclear plant is a two-unit complex, with the No. 1 reactor set to be scrapped.
The No. 2 reactor, which started commercial operations in February 1987, went offline in May 2011.
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