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Japan's nuclear authority to make key judgment on Fukui plant reboot, NHK says

Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) is expected to decide on Friday whether to enable the reboot of a plant that lies above a fault line, state broadcaster NHK reported, marking an essential judgment since the Fukushima disaster in 2011.

WHY IT is very important

The choice over the Tsuruga nuclear reactor unit 2 in Fukui prefecture on Japan's western coast might mark the very first rejection of a nuclear plant restart or operation under regulatory standards.

NRA standards do not permit the installation of safety-critical equipment on an active geological fault

The focus for the authority will be whether the fault line. running under the reactor structure has the prospective to move in the future, NHK stated.

CONTEXT

Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active locations. Japan accounts for about one-fifth of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

On March 11, 2011, the northeast coast was struck by a. magnitude 9 earthquake, the strongest quake in Japan on record,. and a huge tsunami. Those events set off a disaster at the. Fukushima plant that was the world's worst nuclear crisis given that. Chernobyl a quarter of a century previously.

ESSENTIAL QUOTE

At a press conference on Wednesday, NRA chairman Shinsuke. Yamanaka stated if the company's evaluation board decides not to enable. the Tsuruga reactor restart, it would be the first such. rejection because the company's creation in 2012, NHK reported.

(source: Reuters)