8 Apr (NucNet): Tohoku Electric Power Company has announced the cancellation of plans to construct the Namie-Odaka nuclear power plant in Namie, in Fukushima prefecture near the crippled Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant.
The company said the cancellation was as an indirect result of the March 2011 accident at Fukushima-Daiichi. After the accident a Bill was passed by local councils urging Tohoku Electric to stop construction and to cancel preparations for construction.
The Japan Atomic Industrial Forum said the decision was based on “a comprehensive consideration of current local conditions” and the overall prospects for commissioning a new plant.
The town of Namie and the surrounding area was evacuated after the accident at Fukushima-Daiichi.
Some land had already been acquired for the new plant, but acquisition of the whole site had not been completed and extensive environmental assessments that were due to be carried out will now not go ahead, Tohoku Electric said.
The company said it had concluded that it would “not be right” to pursue the acquisition of the necessary land.
The plan to construct the Namie-Odaka plant originated in the 1960s when the Fukushima prefectural government carried out a location survey and Namie became one of the potential locations. The original plan was drawn up in 1970s, and plans were announced to build an advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR) of 825 megawatts.
Construction was scheduled to begin in 2017 and the single unit to be commercially operational in 2021.
Because of the cancellation, Tohoku Electric will declare approximately 191 million US dollars (146 million euro) in extraordinary losses for the business year that ended in March 2013.
Tohoku Electric said it will take “all necessary safety measures” to resume operations at the single-unit Higashi Dori nuclear plant in Aomori prefecture, northern Japan, and units 1 to 3 of the Onawaga nuclear power plant in Onagawa, on Japan’s northeast coast.
All nuclear units in Japan must undergo safety tests based on Europe’s “stress tests” before they can resume commercial operation. Only two out of the country’s 50 commercial units – Ohi-3 and Ohi-4 – are online.
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