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Japan holds off on decision to restart reactors

A field test is being carried out in front of the intake channel of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO)'s tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima, northern Japan to contain the radiated soil under the water in this handout photo taken February 28, 2012 and released by TEPCO March 13, 2012. Picture taken February 28, 2012. REUTERS/Tokyo Electric Power Co/Handout

By Risa Maeda

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan needs more time to decide whether to restart two

offline nuclear reactors, the trade minister said on Tuesday, as concerns about a summer power crunch vie with safety worries

in the wake of last year’s Fukushima crisis.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will meet three cabinet members on Tuesday to discuss restarting the

reactors, but will not make any immediate decision, Trade Minister Yukio Edano, who holds the energy portfolio, told

reporters.

“Safety should be ensured to avoid massive leaks of radioactive materials as occurred in the Fukushima

crisis even if an earthquake and tsunami that exceed past expectations occur,” Edano told reporters.

“We should also

obtain the understanding of local communities in that regard.”

All but one of Japan’s 54 reactors have been shut,

mostly for maintenance checks, over the months since the disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Co’s Fukushima plant, triggered by

a huge tsunami in March 2011. The remaining reactor is set to be closed for maintenance on May 5.

Kansai Electric

Power Co’s No.3 and No.4 reactors at Ohi nuclear plant in Fukui prefecture, western Japan, are the first to have passed

government-imposed, computer-simulated stress tests, a necessary step before any restart.

Energy markets are keen to

know when the Ohi reactors will go back on line. Their restart could reduce imports of liquefied natural gas equivalent by

about 2 million tonnes a year.

To make up for the lost nuclear power, Japan’s utilities burned 25 percent more

imported liquefied natural gas – equivalent to a total of 51.8 million tonnes – and 150 percent more crude oil in the year to

February, according to the latest power industry data.

The government, however, must persuade wary locals that the

plants are safe after last year’s nine-magnitude earthquake and tsunami triggered the world’s worst nuclear crisis in 25

years.

Nuclear power supplied about 30 percent of Japan’s electricity before the crisis, and Noda’s administration

is now debating what role it should play in the future.

Japan’s defences against another major tsunami and the safety

of its nuclear plants were thrown into further doubt after two official studies released at the weekend predicted much higher

waves could hit and that Tokyo quake damage could be bigger than it was prepared for.

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(Additional reporting by Osamu Tsukimori and Nobuhiro Kubo; Editing by Linda Sieg and Nick

Macfie)

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