Tokyo Electric May Get State Approval This Week to Run Reactor

By Megumi Yamanaka

Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Tokyo Electric Power Co., forced by an earthquake to shut the world’s biggest atomic plant, may get final approval to restart a reactor at the plant from the country’s nuclear agency as soon as this week.

The trade ministry’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency found the Kashiwazaki Kariwa No. 7 reactor is safe after reviewing Tokyo Electric’s test results, said a government official who declined to be named because the decision isn’t final yet. The agency will hold committee meetings this week for academics and researchers to study the data and sign off on the decision.

Tokyo Electric still needs permission from the governments of Niigata prefecture, Kashiwazaki city and Kariwa village before it can do a test run. A full restart may come as soon as the summer peak-demand season, Kyodo news reported, without citing anyone. The cost of burning oil and gas to make up for the lost nuclear output led Tokyo Electric to forecast its second consecutive annual loss for the year ending March.

The plant was shut on July 16, 2007, when a 6.8-magnitude temblor caused a fire and radiation leaks. The quake was more powerful than assumed in the plant’s design, spurring concerns about the safety of all seven reactors, which together account for about 10 percent of the utility’s total capacity.

Kashiwazaki city government on Feb. 3 removed a ban on any restart that’s been in place since the earthquake.

To contact the reporters on this story: Megumi Yamanaka in Tokyo at myamanaka@bloomberg.net;