Nuclear regulators said Wednesday they will again halt a safety assessment of an offline central Japan reactor after its operator repeatedly submitted documents containing errors, further prolonging a process toward resumption that has already taken years.
Japan Atomic Power has been seeking approval to reboot the No. 2 unit at the Tsuruga plant in Fukui Prefecture under stricter regulations imposed following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster, but its application has been fraught with mistakes and data tampering.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority considered forcing the operator to withdraw its safety review application, but it ended up deciding on another suspension, citing how restarting the process all over again would only burden the regulator.