Chubu Electric to Close Hamaoka Nuclear Units on Safety Concerns

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Japanese utility Chubu Electric Power Co. on Monday agreed to shut down all units at its Hamaoka nuclear power plant in Shizuoka Prefecture as soon as possible on safety concerns. The action includes idling Unit 4 and Unit 5, an advanced boiling water reactor that started commercial operation in 2005. The company, which is in the process of mothballing Units 1 and 2, said it would also postpone restarting Unit 3, which has been shut down for maintenance since November 2010.

The decision comes after Prime Minister Naoto Kan publicly expressed concern on Friday about the plant‘s lack of medium- to long-term protection from earthquakes or tsunami as massive as those that triggered the catastrophic Fukushima Daiichi crisis in March. Kan‘s direct request that Chubu shut down the plant was coupled with a government report that indicated an 87% likelihood that the prefecture could be rocked by magnitude 8 or higher earthquake within 30 years because it sits on a dangerously active fault line.

Kan has said the government has no intention of pursuing the closure of any other nuclear plants. On Monday, he also said the government would help avoid power shortages in the economically prosperous central region of the Honshu Island.

Chubu has reportedly considered securing generation capacity for the summer by restarting suspended thermal power plants. The company has also said it may have to buy 38% more liquefied natural gas and 170% more oil than it planned for the year (until next March) as a result of the Hamaoka unit closures.

Sources: POWERnews, Chubu Electric