At a press conference on January 30, Governor Yuichiro Ito of Kagoshima Prefecture commented on the slow pace toward restarting the Sendai Nuclear Power Station (NPS), owned and operated by the Kyushu Electric Power Co. The reactors have been shut down since the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi NPS following a tsunami.
Referring to the cautious approach of the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) in its examination, he said, “It was inevitable that it would take time given that this is the first case. There is nothing for us to do now but wait for a while and see how things will develop.”
The governor next commented the on-site inspection made at the NPS one day earlier, on January 29, by Kagoshima Prefecture and nine municipalities in the neighborhood of the NPS.
He said that after the power company explained its emergency action plan, the governmental officials confirmed the deployment of disaster prevention materials and equipment, as well as the state of the emergency response office required under the new regulatory standards.
