CONSULTING

seismic fault line at the site. The definition of an active fault is one with having the “possibility of
slipping in the future” and that has been active since the Late Pleistocene era, or some 120,000
and 130,000 years ago. An expert panel of the NRA indicated in December 2012 that the fault line
was possibly active, 610 and in May 2013 the evaluation report of the NRA determined that the D-
1 fracture zone lying directly under Tsuruga-2 was active. 611 The JAPCO, and a team of
international experts have claimed ever since that the fault line is not active. 612 Despite counter
arguments from JAPCO, in March 2015, the NRA Commissioners agreed with the final evaluation
that the fault was active. 613 The decision is critical for JAPCO, with only two reactors in its fleet,
the other being Tokai-2 where the prospects for restarting are close to zero. Thus without the
possibility of operating Tsuruga-2 it would mean the end of JAPCO as a nuclear plant operator,
having to move the units from assets to liabilities in the balance sheet and triggering the weighty
financial issue of decommissioning. JAPCO, a company established and owned by nine other
nuclear power companies, has not accepted the NRA’s judgement, hence the filing in November
2015 for review of Tsuruga-2 for compliance with the 2013 guidelines. Unless the NRA overturns
its own decision, there is no prospect of Tsuruga-2 being approved for restart.
Another nuclear power plant and utility that is in dispute with the NRA is Hokuriku Electric Power
Company and its Shika-2 plant, which is under review. On 3 March 2016, a panel of experts of the
NRA issued a report concluding that one of the fault zones running directly under the Shika-1
reactor building “could possibly become an active fault in the future.” Hokuriku objected to the
report. 614 The older Shika unit is not under NRA review and it is almost certain that it will be
decommissioned. However, the NRA also concluded that two fault lines running under the turbine
building of both unit-1 and unit-2 could also be active. 615 The NRA commissioners have yet to
make a final determination on this issue, requesting more information from the utility. Shika-2 is
an 1100 MW Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR), which only began operation in 2005. A
ruling by the NRA that the fault under Shika-2 is active, would leave Hokuriku, like JAPCO, with no
operable reactors.
In August 2015, the NRA announced that it was putting the TEPCO reactors Kashiwazaki Kariwa-
6 and -7 on a priority list for screening, suggesting that these will be the first BWRs out of a total
610 Japan Times, “Detecting Active Faults Near Reactors”, Editorial, 14 December 2012, see
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2012/12/14/editorials/detecting-active-faults-near-reactors/, accessed
17 June 2016.
611 JAIF, “Thin Reasoning in NRA’s Argument for Active Fault under Tsuruga-2”, 25 November 2014, see
http://www.jaif.or.jp/en/thin-reasoning-in-nras-argument-for-active-fault-under-tsuruga-2/, accessed 17 June 2016.
612 JAPCO, “Evaluation of shatter zones at Tsuruga NPP site—Interim Report of the Joint International Experts’
Meeting (TRM/IRG)”, 21 May 2013, see http://www.japc.co.jp/english/shatter_zones/pdf/130521/250521_2.pdf,
accessed 2 July 2016.
613 JAIF, “NRA Accepts Finalization of Panel Report Recognizing the Fault Directly Under Tsuruga-2 as
Active”, 25 March 2015, see http://www.jaif.or.jp/en/nra-accepts-finalization-of-panel-report-recognizingthe-fault-directly-under-tsuruga-2-as-active/,
accessed 2 July 2016.
614 JAIF, “Hokuriku Electric Power Voices Objections to Report on Crushed Rock Fault Zones at Shika
NPPs”, 4 March 2016, see http://www.jaif.or.jp/en/hokuriku-electric-power-voices-objections-to-report-oncrushed-rock-fault-zones-at-shika-npps/,
accessed 2 July 2016.
615 Japan Times, “Shika Nuclear Power Plant Closer to Being Scrapped as NRA Upholds Faults Ruling”,
27 April 2016, see http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/04/27/national/science-health/shika-nuclearplant-closer-scrapped-nra-upholds-fault-ruling/#.Vz5HMiMrK2w,
accessed 19 May 2016.
Mycle Schneider, Antony Froggatt et al. 156 World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2016