Newsline. Experts with Japans Nuclear Regulation Authority are getting closer to determining whether the only operating Nuclear Plant in the country can keep generating power. They carried out a second inspection at the ohi plant to figure out if an active fault runs beneath the facility. The five member team returned to ohi to inspect a trench the nra had ordered Plant Operator Kansai Electric to double the length of the trench after the first onsite inspection in november. Crews dug it to 100 meters. Representatives of the Nuclear Watchdog say they will ask Kansai Electric to shut down the plant if inspectors conclude an active fault runs underneath it. Government guidelines ban the construction of key Nuclear Facilities on active faults. Kansai electric executives insist land slips and not a fault caused the fissures below ohi. After fridays inspection, the shik zach shimazaki said they will look for answers. Translator well carefully analyze what we saw today. It wont be an easy ta
Representatives of the Nuclear Watchdog say they will ask Kansai Electric to shut down the plant if inspectors conclude an active fault runs underneath it. Government guidelines ban the construction of key Nuclear Facilities on active faults. Kansai electric executives insist land slips and not a fault caused the fissures below ohi. After fridays inspection, the shik zach shimazaki said they will look for answers. Translator well carefully analyze what we saw today. It wont be an easy task determining what it is. The team of experts will be back at the plant on saturday. Then they will meet early next year to produce an assessment based on the results of their inspection. Nra experts are checking the ground beneath a number of power plants in this earthquakeprone country. Their reports on some of them could keep the facilities off line for the future or forever. Nra teams say they found one active fault under tsuruga nuclear compound. The fault runs along side reactors one and two. And
Intention to extend full government support. Translator the state of emergency is over and were now in a transition phase with efforts focused on decommissioning. The government will do all it can to help speed up this process. During the initial decommissioning phases tepco workers will need to remove thee pool in the reactor 4 building. They took out two rods last july during a trial. Tepco engineers have since studied how to remove about 1,500 others. They plan to start midnovember and complete the process in december 2014, a year earlier than initially scheduled. They want to remove the rods as soon as possible because of concerns about the storage pools quake resistance. High radiation levels at the reactor site will make it difficult to proceed. Tepco workers have faced other challenges. Last september they accidentally dropped a 470 kilogram beam into reactor 3s spent storage pool. That set them back three months. It will be harder to figure out how to remove the melted fuel. Te
Glad to have you with us on this edition of newsline. Its wednesday, january 9th. Im Catherine Kobayashi in tokyo. Japanese Prime Minister shinzo abe wanted to make the United States his first foreign visit since retaking office. But he had to give up on that because of scheduling conflicts. So hes taking time instead to visit japans neighbors. Hell head next week to indonesia, thailand, and vietnam. Abe wants to strengthen Cooperation Among Southeast Asian nations. Several of them are caught up in territorial disputes with china. And security analysts say abe wants to keep china in check. U. S. State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said officials on both sides are still work out the detail of abes visit to washington. She said secretary of state Hillary Clinton will meet next week with Japanese Foreign minister fumeio kishida. Nuland said clinton spoke with kishida over the phone and Senkaku Islands in the east chinsea. Clinton said t islands are covered by the security treaty
Glad to have you with us on this edition of newsline. Its wednesday, january 9th. Im Catherine Kobayashi in tokyo. Japanese Prime Minister shinzo abe wanted to make the United States his first foreign visit since retaking office. But he had to give up on that because of scheduling conflicts. So hes taking time instead to visit japans neighbors. Hell head next week to indonesia, thailand, and vietnam. Abe wants to strengthen Cooperation Among Southeast Asian nations. Several of them are caught up in territorial disputes with china. And security analysts say abe wants to keep china in check. U. S. State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said officials on both sides are still work out the detail of abes visit to washington. She said secretary of state Hillary Clinton will meet next week with Japanese Foreign minister fumeio kishida. Nuland said clinton spoke with kishida over the phone and repeated the stance on the Senkaku Islands in the east china sea. Clinton said the islands are