柏崎原発、対テロ施設正式認可　対策不備で運転禁止中―規制委

　原子力規制委員会は１７日、東京電力柏崎刈羽原発６、７号機（新潟県）のテロ対策施設「特定重大事故等対処施設」（特重）の設置計画を正式に認可した。
　柏崎刈羽原発では７号機がすでに、原子炉本体施設の審査に合格し、東電が再稼働を目指していた。しかし、侵入検知装置の故障が放置されるなどテロ対策の不備が相次いで判明し、規制委が昨年４月に事実上の運転禁止を命令。再稼働に向けた準備が進められなくなっている。
　こうした中、テロ対策に関連する特重の審査を進めることへの懸念もあったが、規制委は今年７月、「新規制基準に適合している」として認可の前提となる審査書案を了承していた。（2022/08/17-11:08）

Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority on Wednesday officially approved Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s construction plan for an antiterrorism facility for the No. 6 and No. 7 reactors at the firm's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture, central Japan.
   The No. 7 reactor's main facility has already passed the NRA safety screening needed for its restart and TEPCO had been working on bringing the reactor back online.
   The NRA, however, issued a de facto ban in April last year on operations at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant after a series of security flaws came to light at the plant. The problems included the firm's failure to repair malfunctioning equipment to detect intruders.
   In such circumstances, it was questioned whether it would be appropriate for the NRA to proceed with its examination of the firm's plan for the antiterrorism facility's construction. In July this year, however, the authority approved a draft report stating that the construction plan met new safety standards the country introduced after the March 2011 triple meltdown at TEPCO's tsunami-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in the northeastern prefecture of Fukushima.
   At a regular meeting of the NRA on Wednesday, its chairman, Toyoshi Fuketa, said that the approval of the construction plan for the antiterrorism facility "was to confirm whether TEPCO's basic plan is appropriate, and (it) has nothing to do with the possible removal of the order (banning the plant's operations.)"