Japan's idled nuclear reactors could restart work if they pass the first stage of two-step post-Fukushima safety checks, the government said on Monday. Still, without a timeframe for the tests, concerns remain about summer power shortages that could hurt the economy. Last week's surprise announcement that the government would conduct stress tests alarmed corporate Japan and outraged some local authorities, who had been prepared to approve reactor restarts after receiving safety assurances from the government. Four months after the Fukushima Daiichi plant was smashed by a tsunami and began leaking radiation, only 19 of the country's reactors are running and if some do not resume operation, Japan could be without nuclear power by next April. The disaster has also sparked a broader public debate about the role of nuclear energy in earthquake-prone, resource-poor Japan, which relied on atomic power for almost 30 percent of its electricity before the crisis. “Safety and a sense of security are the top priority,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference. “On the other hand, the government must fulfill its responsibility for a stable supply of electricity and is coordinating on this with relevant ministries ... and will make every effort to secure (supply) in the medium and long term,” he added. Edano gave no precise timeframe for completing either of the two stages, but said they should be carried out speedily. The new assessment scheme, which also lacks detailed procedures, did little to elucidate atomic safety policy for reactor hosting-municipalities, whose approval is by custom required to restart reactors. In a sudden policy shift last week, Prime Minister Naoto Kan – under fire for his handling of the nuclear crisis – said Japan would administer stress tests modeled on those conducted by the European Union after the meltdowns at Fukushima. The move was welcomed by critics who say Japan's safety regulations have been too lax, but it also raised the risk of power shortages that could stretch into 2012, and hurt industrial production. To avoid a power crunch, the government had been pushing for early restarts of facilities that have completed regular checks, but some local authorities said they could not give their OK until the government clarified its position. — Reuters Nuclear reactor stress test n First stage: Reactors will be targeted which have already completed routine checks and are ready for restart. The checks will assess resistance to severe earthquakes and other events more extreme than those for which they were designed. n Second stage: Tests will make a comprehensive safety assessment of all 54 of Japan's reactors. __
