Japan's nuclear watchdog to review Tohoku Electric's reactor restart

Tohoku Electric Power Co. on Tuesday applied to Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) to assess the safety of its No. 1 reactor at the utility's Higashidori nuclear power facility in Aomori Prefecture in the northeast of Japan.

The utility is aiming to have the reactor restarted in March 2016 following approval by the local municipality, but a panel operating under Japan's nuclear watchdog remains concerned that the Higashidori reactor, idled in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster, is situated above an active geographical fault line.

The NRA said that ongoing seismic research will continue and its safety assessment of the reactor will be based on its conclusion pending comprehensive research, despite the utility asking the NRA to proceed with its safety review in twine with its seismic research.

Tohoku Electric said that based on tougher safety requirements following the Fukushima disaster, it will incorporate increased safety measures to protect its facility against major natural disasters such as the massive earthquake-triggered tsunami that wrecked the Daichi Plant in Fukushima Prefecture in March 2011, leading to the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986.

Forty-eight of Japan's commercial reactors remain offline due to increased safety requirements, with 19 having applied to the NRA to review their safety applications to restart, with none of them being granted permission to restart since the new safety standards were imposed in July 2013.