In July 2015, the power company had obtained approval from the NRA to change the basic design of the reactor to make it compatible with the new regulatory standards. A five-year grace period has been provided following the approval of the plan to construct an emergency response building—a permanent backup facility to be used in an intentional aircraft strike or terrorist attack—referred to in the standards as a “specialized safety facility.”
A similar application was filed in December 2015 by the Kyushu Electric Power Co., for the Sendai-1 and -2 NPPs. The emergency response building at Ikata-3 will be completed in FY19.
Based on the lessons learned from the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants in March 2011, Shikoku Electric Power has been voluntarily carrying out safety measures, one of which has been to install air-cooled emergency gas turbine generators to be built some 32m above sea level. Not needing any cooling water, the generators will enable diverse, multiple power sources. The target for completion is FY17 (April 2017 to March 2018).
Together with the application for installation of the permanent backup facility, Shikoku Electric Power also applied for the approval of the gas turbine generators, reflecting earthquake resistance standards into the design so as to comply with the new regulatory standards.
