Japan to Review Power Supply After Kansai Shutdown, Sankei Says
Japan’s government will meet to discuss power demand and supply as early as tomorrow after Kansai Electric Power Co. shut a reactor at one of its nuclear stations, the Sankei newspaper reported, without citing anyone.
The meeting will be led by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano, the Japanese-language newspaper said. Customers of Kansai Electric will be asked to save power, it said. Power shortages are expected to worsen after the shutdown, Trade Minister Banri Kaieda said, according to the report.
Kansai Electric, which supplies power to Osaka and surrounding areas, closed the No. 1 reactor at its Ohi nuclear plant on July 16 because of a malfunction. The reactor has been running without final approval from regulators since March after being shutdown for regular maintenance.
The company hasn’t heard anything from the government on the meeting or requests to customers to save power, spokesman Jun Takahashi said by phone today.
The utility will run short of capacity after the shutdown, Masaki Toratake, a spokesman, said yesterday. Two more of Kansai Electric’s reactors are due to close for maintenance by the end of this month.
Mandatory power savings have been imposed in some areas of Japan after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami knocked out capacity and caused three reactor meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant. Other reactors closed down safely after the disaster or have been idled for scheduled maintenance, exacerbating shortages.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kana Nishizawa in Tokyo at knishizawa5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Amit Prakash at aprakash1@bloomberg.net
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