Japan To Build Nuclear Power Plant

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Tuesday August 4 1:28 PM EDT 

TOKYO (AP) - Japan will build its first commercial nuclear power 
plant in 10 years, despite public opposition and safety
fears, officials said Tuesday. 

After months of discussion, the government's five-member Nuclear 
Safety Commission approved the new plant Monday. 

Under the plans, construction of a reactor with an electricity 
generation capacity of 1.1 million kilowatts will begin in
December, said officials at the Ministry of International Trade and 
Industry, which will oversee the project. 

The new plant will be located in Higashidori, about 400 miles 
northeast of Tokyo and will be operated by Tohoku Electric
Power Co. It is slated to start operations in July 2005, the officials 
said, speaking on condition of anonymity. 

The local assembly in Higashidori adopted a resolution to accept 
the nuclear power plant in 1965, but local opposition delayed
it, the Asahi newspaper said. That resistance has fallen off, the 
newspaper said. 

Resource-poor Japan last approved construction of a nuclear power 
plant in 1988 in Shika, 185 miles northwest of Tokyo. 

A temporary nuclear waste storage facility is under construction at 
Rokkasho, 325 miles northeast of Tokyo. Antinuclear
activists say Rokkasho is a dangerous place for storage because it 
sits on earthquake fault lines. 

The commission said the new nuclear facility will be able to 
withstand a 6.5-magnitude earthquake. 

Trust in Japan's nuclear industry has fallen in recent years following 
a series of accidents and cover-ups by plant operators. A
fire in March 1997 exposed 37 workers to low-level radiation in a 
fuel processing facility. 

Japan has 51 commercial nuclear power plants, supplying about 
one-third of the nation's electricity, according to government
figures. 

------------------
Sandy Perle
Technical Director
ICN Dosimetry Division
ICN Plaza
3300 Hyland Avenue
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Office: (800) 548-5100 x2306 
Fax:    (714) 668-3149
  
sandyfl@earthlink.net
sperle@icnpharm.com

ICN Dosimetry Website:
http://www.dosimetry.com

Personal Website:
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