Chubu Electric to start work around Fri. on halting Hamaoka reactor

NAGOYA, May 11 Kyodo -
Chubu Electric Power Co. will begin work on or after Friday to suspend operation of the No. 4 reactor at the Hamaoka nuclear power station in Shizuoka Prefecture, one of the two reactors it has agreed to halt for earthquake safety reasons following a government request, company officials said Wednesday.
Power generation at the reactor is expected to terminate seven to eight hours after procedures start and the reactor will reach a stable condition called ''cold shutdown'' in about a day thereafter.
Chubu Electric, which serves central Japan around Nagoya, will then swiftly move on to suspend the No. 5 reactor. As a result, the Hamaoka plant, where the three other reactors have already been taken off the grid, is expected to be completely out of service three days or so after the work to suspend the operation of the No. 4 reactor begins, the sources said.
The utility initially had planned to start the work on Thursday but decided to put it off due to time-consuming negotiations with Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Kyushu Electric Power Co. over deals related to its provision of electricity, the sources said.
Chubu Electric President Akihisa Mizuno told reporters Wednesday that the utility is making final arrangements to avoid inconveniencing Tokyo Electric and Kyushu Electric as a ''top priority.''
Mizuno made the comment following his meeting with industry minister Banri Kaieda in Tokyo, during which he sought support from the government to enable Chubu Electric to address the difficulties it will face, such as in the area of electric power supply.
According to Mizuno, Kaieda reassured him that the Hamaoka plant would be able to resume operations once the company implements sufficient preventive steps to deal with massive tsunami waves that could be triggered in the event of a powerful earthquake, a process that is likely to take about two years.
Mizuno met the economy, trade and industry minister for the first time since Chubu Electric decided Monday to accept Prime Minister Naoto Kan's request for it to suspend operations at the only nuclear power plant it owns.
Considering the possibility of a prolonged suspension, the utility will contemplate whether to leave nuclear fuel inside the reactors or move it to fuel pools, after the Nos. 4 and 5 reactors reach cold shutdown, the sources said.
Mizuno said Monday the utility would begin work to suspend operations at Hamaoka in a few days once arrangements were made with Tokyo Electric and Kyushu Electric over the electricity provision deals.
The halting of the Hamaoka plant has raised fears of power supply shortages, which could deal a major blow to the Japanese economy as many industrial facilities, including those of Toyota Motor Corp. and Sony Corp., are located in its service area.
There is also concern about a domino effect of power shortages across the archipelago in summer when energy demand peaks as Chubu Electric will no longer be able to support other utilities with its excess capacity.
Located in the city of Omaezaki, on the Pacific coast southwest of Tokyo, the Hamaoka complex, which accounts for around 12 percent of Chubu Electric's total electricity supply, stands near a major fault line.
Amid growing public distrust of nuclear power in the wake of the country's worst nuclear crisis at Tokyo Electric's Fukushima Daiichi power plant, which has been crippled since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, Kan said last Friday that all operations at the Hamaoka plant must be halted because of concern that a powerful earthquake could hit the area and trigger another serious nuclear accident.
Apart from the Nos. 4 and 5 reactors, the No. 3 reactor has been taken offline for regular checks. The Nos. 1 and 2 reactors have already been put out of operation and were set to be decommissioned.