The Nuclear Regulation Authority on Wednesday officially ruled the No. 2 reactor of Japan Atomic Power's Tsuruga nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture is noncompliant with the country's new safety standards, following a public comment period.

The NRA in August adopted a draft screening report concluding that the Tsuruga No. 2 reactor did not meet the safety standards after a screening process taking nearly nine years.

Although the official decision makes the nuclear reactor's restart virtually impossible, it is technically possible for Japan Atomic Power to reapply to bring the reactor back online. The operator has indicated that it will submit a reapplication after conducting an additional investigation.

The NRA reached a nonconformity decision for a nuclear reactor for the first time since its establishment in 2012.

The authority received 282 public opinions in the course of 30 days, 67 of which were treated as opinions related to the screening process, according to the NRA's secretariat.

While the majority of such opinions were calls for geological evidence, some said that the NRA should not accept a reapplication from the plant operator unless there is new scientific evidence.

The NRA said that it will strictly examine any reapplication.

The new regulatory standards, established in 2013 in light of the 2011 nuclear accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s disaster-crippled Fukushima No. 1 plant, do not allow reactor buildings or other important facilities to be built on active faults.

The focal point of the NRA's review of the Tsuruga No. 2 reactor was on whether a fault near the reactor building called K may move in the future and on whether the K fault is connected to a fault directly under the building.

The NRA concluded that it cannot deny the possibilities of the K fault moving in the future and of the K fault being connected with the other fault, thus reaching the decision that the reactor did not meet the safety standards.

Japan Atomic Power denied both possibilities, urging the NRA to continue its review. The NRA, however, shot down the call.

During the Tsuruga No. 2 screening process, which was launched in 2015, many issues were found with documents submitted by Japan Atomic Power, including unauthorized changes to geological data.

This then led to an unprecedented string of events including two screening suspensions and an administrative guidance issued by the NRA.