Japan Institute for National Fundamentals

　
According to the Nuclear Regulation Authority’s new regulatory standards for nuclear power plants, the construction of an anti-terrorism facility must be completed within five years of the construction approval for the nuclear plant’s safety system, after the system passes the NRA’s review. The Unit 7 reactor of Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station in Niigata Prefecture was on track to restart operations after the construction work for the plant’s safety system ended. However, as the construction of the anti-terrorism facility will not be completed by the deadline of October 2025, the reactor will have to suspend operation from that month to August 2029, when the facility is to be completed.

Anti-terrorism measures can be done with wire fences

The anti-terrorism facility is officially referred to as “Specialized Safety Facility.” It has a backup control room and reactor cooling equipment to respond to terrorism such as an attack using a hijacked aircraft.

Under the initial new regulatory standards, the construction of the anti-terrorism facility was required to be completed within five years after a nuclear plant’s safety system passes the NRA’s review. But, as it was expected that the construction of the underground facility would take a long time, the Japan Society of Maintenology proposed to then NRA Chairman Toyoshi Fuketa that the facility be required to be completed within five years from the construction approval of the plant’s safety system, insisting that the facility’s functions can be covered by mobile water injection and power supply vehicles. The NRA accepted the proposal, leading to a relevant legislative action.

However, the anti-terrorism facility was subjected to a review separate from the construction approval of the plant’s safety system, leading to a situation in which an anti-terrorism facility will remain incomplete even five years after the construction approval of the plant’s safety system. Even if the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station’s Unit 7 is restarted by summer this year with the consent by the Niigata Prefecture governor, it will have to be shut down again in October, the deadline for the completion of the anti-terrorism facility.

In order to avoid such a situation, the Japan Society of Maintenology has urged the NRA to allow a nuclear reactor to operate if wire fences are installed around the plant to prevent terrorists from using a hijacked aircraft. Ten steel transmission towers, each costing 100 million yen, should be erected around the plant and wired just like golf driving ranges are fenced off. Since a hijacked aircraft is likely to crash in a collision with the wire fences without hitting the nuclear plant itself, the wire fences may psychologically help deter such terrorist attack.

When I presented this wire fence scheme at an international symposium, it attracted attention from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). As requested by the NRC, I submitted presentation materials in electronic format.

Japan’s nuclear regulations lack efficiency

Today, NRA regulations are the biggest obstacle to the stable operation of nuclear power plants in Japan. While one of the five principles of the U.S. NRC is “regulatory efficiency,” the Japanese NRA does not place emphasis on efficiency. Details of the construction of the anti-terrorism facility are not disclosed to the public because they are sensitive matters. The deadline for completing an anti-terrorism facility should be changed to five years from the construction approval for the facility on condition that wire fences are installed as an obstacle to a terrorist attack using an aircraft.

The Japan Self-Defense Forces officials say that although they could use missiles or aircraft to intercept enemy fighter jets attacking from the sky, they may hesitate to shoot down a hijacked passenger aircraft with Japanese nationals on board. Therefore, it is important to tighten the protection of nuclear power plants.

The current nuclear regulations, which stick to the completion of anti-terrorism facilities and discourage the restart of nuclear power plants, are the root of all evil, accelerating global warming and causing the vulnerable to suffer from soaring electricity costs. The NRA should be reformed fundamentally to place emphasis on science and technology, and people’s lives.

Tadashi Narabayashi is a specially appointed professor at the Institute of Science Tokyo and a director at the Japan Institute for National Fundamentals.