In January of this year, JNFL had submitted an application to Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) for an examination of the plant’s compatibility with new regulatory standards, an examination that continues.
JNFL has since made a fresh estimate of the time required for the examination, putting it at 18 months instead of the six months that had been originally expected. It also said that the retrofitting work required after that (termed as “countermeasures”) would be completed some nine months after the examination rather than the four months originally expected, because certain parts of the examination cannot begin until the work plans are approved.
JNFL says that with completion in May 2013 of the tests of the vitrification facility — which required a lot of time — the technology has now been established for completion of the plant.
