The government and four electric companies are discussing the possibility of exempting areas around nuclear power plants from rolling blackouts that may be implemented this summer if power shortages become serious, sources said Tuesday.
The idea is to ensure that people living near nuclear power stations can evacuate quickly in case of problems at the plants, according to the sources.
The four utilities that may carry out rolling blackouts are Hokkaido Electric Power Co., Kansai Electric Power Co., Shikoku Electric Power Co. and Kyushu Electric Power Co.
Even though all of Japan's nuclear reactors are currently idle, spent fuel and other radioactive materials are stored inside the facilities, and work to cool the fuel continues.
In the event of a nuclear accident, it could be necessary to evacuate nearby residents, and it would be important to maintain communications around the plants so technicians and emergency responders would not be hindered, the sources said.
On the other hand, excluding areas around nuclear facilities from the rolling blackouts could trigger criticism. The government will thus carefully choose areas that would be exempted, the sources said.
Hospitals, water and wastewater service operators, and railroad operators will be exempt from the rotational power outages.
Last summer, rolling blackouts were conducted only in the Tokyo area, where there are no nuclear plants. Therefore, preparations for nuclear accidents were not necessary.
For this summer, the government has announced voluntary power-conserving targets in the areas served by the four power suppliers plus three other utilities — Chubu Electric Power Co., Hokuriku Electric Power Co. and Chugoku Electric Power Co.
If the rolling blackouts are used, power supply will be cut district by district, with each outage lasting two hours.
Power shortages are expected to be particularly serious in the Kansai region, where Kepco has relied heavily on nuclear energy.
The government is trying to win local support for the restart of the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at Kepco's Oi power station in Fukui Prefecture.
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