The govenrment is thinking of decommissioning the Fukushima No. 2 nuclear power plant in deference to those who have taken the brunt of the ongoing nuclear crisis, a government source said Saturday.

Fukushima No. 2, which is situated on the Pacific coast about 10 km south of its crippled sister facility, Fukushima No. 1, successfully completed a cold shutdown after being hit by the March 11 quake and tsunami, which temporarily disabled its cooling systems.

Because plant manager Tokyo Electric Power Co. faced a severe power shortage in the Kanto region after the disaster, attention is focusing on whether the utility will attempt to restart the four-reactor No. 2 power station.

While the final decision rests with the utility, the government has decided to take full account of the feelings of local Fukushima residents, who were forced to evacuate en masse as radiation began leaking from the No. 1 complex, the source said.

The decision on whether to restart the No. 2 plant will be put off until the No. 1 power plant is stabilized, according to the source. Tepco said last month it would take at least six to nine months to stabilize the damaged No. 1 complex.

Discussions on the matter could eventually evolve into the possibility of decommissioning No. 2’s reactors or keeping them “suspended” for an extended period of time, given the deep loss of public trust in nuclear energy since the disaster at the No. 1 plant.

The government said it is considering the matter without the premise of resumption, apparently in an attempt to portray itself as putting safety first and economic concerns last.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan has already announced his intention to review the nation’s nuclear energy policy, including the plan to construct 14 new nuclear power reactors.

On Friday, Kan asked Chubu Electric Power Co., which serves central Japan, to suspend all nuclear reactors at its Hamaoka complex in Shizuoka Prefecture out of concern that a similar nuclear disaster could occur should a massive earthquake and tsunami hit the nation’s Tokai region. The feared quake is known as the “big one.”

At a news conference in mid-April, Tepco President Masataka Shimizu said the future of Fukushima No. 2 was “undetermined” and said he couldn’t comment on what it would do with its four reactors.

“Even if they were to decide to restart the plant by taking safety measures, including the construction of sea walls, they would have no choice but to keep the reactors suspended for 10 years,” a government source said.

Just after the magnitude 9.0 quake struck in the ocean off east Japan on March 11, all four reactors at Fukushima No. 2 halted operations automatically.

While its No. 3 reactor entered cold shutdown smoothly, the other three units temporarily lost cooling ability because of the ensuing tsunami. They were later shut down after their cooling systems was restored.

The same cannot be said for Fukushima No. 1, which suffered several hydrogen explosions that left reactors and spent fuel pools exposed to the sky.

The Japan Times