Stress Test for Nuclear Plants Creates Political Stress in Japan

摘要

Japan's entire nuclear energy program was thrown into disarray last week by Prime Minister Naoto Kan's sudden decision to order "stress tests" for Japan's 50 operable nuclear reactors. Depending on the length of the tests, almost all of Japan's nuclear power plants could be out of commission by next April. It emerged Monday that closed reactors will have to undergo damage tolerance tests before they can restart. In a second phase of stress tests, Japan's Nuclear Safety Commission (NSC) and Nuclear, Safety and Industrial Safety Agency (Nisa) will apply standards used by the EU in Europe's post-Fukushima stress tests and incorporate findings from the Fukushima Daiichi plant to establish safety evaluations for all reactors, including those still operating (WGI Mar.l6'11,p8).