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Japan nuclear body can't say when damaged plant to restart
Vienna (AFP) Sept 20, 2007 The Japanese nuclear safety body examining the damage at the world's largest nuclear plant in Japan, hit by a powerful earthquake in July, declined to say Thursday when the plant might re-open. "At this moment, we can't say when the reactor could be restarted," said Akira Fukushima, a top official at Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA). "What I can say now is that we have to be careful to do our investigations and our research," Fukushima told journalists. The comments came as NISA presented a report on the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant on the sidelines of the UN nuclear watchdog's general conference here. Asked whether an estimate by UN experts that it might be at least a year before the plant could be restarted, Fukushima -- NISA's deputy director-general for saftey examination -- refused to be pinned down. "The geological survey, for example, will be done by the end of March next year," he said. "We'll then establish the judgement criteria. After that, we have to do things step by step." In August, the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, had said that the damage to Kashikawazki-Kariwa appeared to be less than expected. An IAEA mission comprising six experts had spent four days inspecting the plant. An IAEA spokesman said Thursday that talks were underway for a second IAEA-led mission to be dispatched at some point between November and January. Fukushima also said it was still too early to say whether there had been any hidden damage to the plant but that indications so far were that there was no damage to the fuel. "We are still doing the investigations. We have to be very careful, but we're doing the necessary studies," he said. "There are no changes in the iodine concentration in the reactor coolant and spent pool water" from before and after the quake, he said. "That appears to indicate that the fuels of all units are intact. It indicates that there was no big damage inside the reactor ... Of course, we have to complete our inspections first." The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the world's biggest private power company, would open up the reactors by the end of October and the beginning of November, he added. A clear picture of the situation inside the reactor would therefore be available by the end of this year, he said. Following the July 16 earthquake that measured 6.8 on the Richter scale and whose epicentre was just 16 kilometres (10 miles) from the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, the giant facility northwest of Tokyo caught fire and leaked a small amount of radiation. Despite its propensity for earthquakes, Japan relies on nuclear plants for nearly one-third of its power needs as it has virtually no natural energy resources. Related Links Nuclear Power News - Nuclear Science, Nuclear Technology Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com
Indian stalemate continues on US nuclear deal
New Delhi (AFP) Sept 19, 2007India's ruling Congress party held a new round of tense talks Wednesday with its communist allies, who are trying to block a nuclear energy deal with the United States, its leaders said. |
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