Japan preparing to restart first NPP after Fukushima accident

The Japan Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) informed that the two reactors of the Sendai nuclear power plant located on the southern island of Kyushu fully comply with the highest safety standards, news agencies reported.

Inspectors of the commission concluded that the Sendai NPP will be able to withstand a natural calamity similar to the powerful earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in the spring of 2011. The world's most stringent safety criteria were applied to the assessment of the plant.

Thus, the Sendai nuclear power plant will be the first in Japan to be restarted after the Fukushima accident. It will take three months to complete all the formalities and technical assessment. Thus the reactors may be restarted in the fall of 2014.

After the accident at the Fukushima-1 in 2011 Japan stopped all commercial nuclear reactors. Now the government seeks to restart nuclear power plants that used to meet about one-third of Japan's energy needs.