The government on Friday finalized a hastily drafted set of additional safety criteria for reactor restarts that it says reflects the lessons of the Fukushima disaster.
In a nutshell, the new criteria require utilities to make sure their plants are sturdy enough to avoid meltdowns and the release of radioactive material even if they are hit by quakes and tsunami on a par with those of March 2011. They also must show they are committed to continuous efforts to improve safety by drafting a road map toward that task.
For instance, the new criteria requires nuclear utilities to raise their maximum projection for tsunami heights by at least 9.5 meters across the board because the waves that clobbered the Fukushima No. 1 plant were much higher than what it was designed to withstand.