Japan uncertain on restarting nuke reactors

Japan wants more time to decide about restarting two offline nuclear reactors, according to the trade minister.

The country's officials are in a dilemma since concerns about a summer power crunch are clashing with safety worries on restarting nuclear reactors.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will not make any immediate decision on a restart date, Trade Minister Yukio Edano, who holds the energy portfolio, told reporters.

"The Prime Minister instructed me to compile a standard that takes into account the analyses of the (Fukushima) crisis causes, a safety standard even if it is temporary," said Edano.

The nuclear safety watchdog will compile the standard and present it at the next round of the ministers' meeting to discuss the restarts of the No.3 and No.4 reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co's Ohi plant, Edano said.

The No.3 and No.4 reactors at Ohi nuclear plant in Fukui prefecture, western Japan, are the first to have passed government-imposed, computer-simulated stress tests, a necessary step before any restart.

Energy markets are keen to know when the Ohi reactors will go back on line. Their restart could reduce imports of liquefied natural gas equivalent by about 2 million metric tonnes or 2.2 million tons a year.

To make up for the lost nuclear power, Japan's utilities burned 25 percent more imported liquefied natural gas - equivalent to a total of 51.8 million tonnes - and 150 percent more crude oil in the year to February, according to the latest power industry data.

The government, however, must persuade wary locals that the plants are safe after last year's nine-magnitude earthquake and tsunami triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years.

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