Survey to start for 1st new nuclear reactor since Fukushima disaster
Currently, the No. 3 unit is the only reactor in operation at the Mihama station in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, while the other two units are set to be decommissioned.
No new reactor has been built in Japan since the building of the No. 3 unit at Hokkaido Electric Power Co.'s Tomari plant. The unit began operation in 2009.
"We will conduct (the survey) while explaining to and seeking the cooperation of local residents," Kansai Electric President Nozomu Mori said at a press conference in Osaka.
A senior official of Kansai Electric also visited the Fukui prefectural office, where he met Fukui Vice Gov. Yasuhiro Nakamura, who urged the utility to "carefully explain" its plan to local residents.
The town of Mihama welcomed the decision, with an assembly member and urging that the reactor be built as soon as possible.
Yuki Sakimoto, a managing director at a construction company in Mihama, said that while his firm does not receive orders related to nuclear power plants, he sees benefits to hosting one, including improvements in road infrastructure.
"Since there are no other industries, (the town would) financially collapse without a nuclear power plant," Sakimoto said.
Meanwhile, town assembly member Takeshi Komoto said it is "unthinkable to build a new" reactor while issues such as nuclear waste remain unresolved.
In 2010, Kansai Electric announced a plan to replace an aging reactor at the power station and started a survey, but the process was halted due to the nuclear disaster triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan the following year.
Public sentiment turned sour over the use of nuclear power as a national source of energy following the disaster, prompting the government to repeatedly say it was not considering building new reactors or replacing existing ones.
But with demand for electricity in Japan expected to increase in the future, the government and power industry have been discussing the need for a new or expanded facility to ensure a stable power supply.
The government signaled a return to nuclear energy in its revised basic energy plan released in February.
Due to the strict safety standards introduced by the Nuclear Regulation Authority following the 2011 Fukushima disaster, the planned survey will likely have to begin from scratch. If the site is deemed suitable, Kansai Electric will need to draw up a basic design and submit it to regulators for approval before commencing construction work.
The government is promoting the replacement of aging reactors with next-generation models that are deemed safer. Kansai Electric is collaborating with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and others to develop an advanced light-water reactor that is designed to be more resilient to natural disasters and terrorist attacks.
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