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)
