柏崎７号機、安全確認終了　再稼働の準備整う―東電

　東京電力は１３日、柏崎刈羽原発（新潟県）７号機で行っていた安全確認のための検査が完了したと発表した。稲垣武之所長は同日午後の記者会見で「緊急対応能力の向上に終わりはない。まずは県民から信頼してもらえるよう、発電所として一定の水準に到達したことを具体的かつ丁寧に説明していきたい」と述べた。
　これで再稼働に向けた準備が全て整い、地元自治体の同意を残すだけとなった。ただ、能登半島地震をきっかけに災害時の避難体制などへの懸念が強まり、具体的な見通しは立たないままだ。
　東京電力は４月２６日に７号機への核燃料搬入を完了。その後、核分裂反応を抑える制御棒を一部引き抜くなどして検査を進めてきた。
　新潟県の花角英世知事は国に対し、事故を想定した新たな避難道路の整備を求めている。（2024/06/13-18:28）

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said Thursday that it has completed safety inspections at the idled No. 7 reactor at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture, central Japan.
   The end of the inspections means that TEPCO is all but ready to restart the reactor, pending only the consent of local governments. But there are no clear prospects for its restart after the Jan. 1 Noto Peninsula earthquake in the nearby prefecture of Ishikawa fueled concerns about evacuation plans.
   Niigata Governor Hideyo Hanazumi is asking the central government to build new evacuation roads.
   "There is no end to improving emergency response capabilities," Takeyuki Inagaki, head of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, said at a press conference the same day. "We will first explain concretely and sincerely that we have reached a certain (safety) standard as a power plant, so that we can gain the trust of the residents (of Niigata)."
   TEPCO finished loading nuclear fuel into the No. 7 reactor on April 26 and has since been conducting inspections, including by pulling out some control rods that suppress nuclear fission.