Asia-Pacific

Japan firm to close nuke reactors

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-05-09 17:44

TOKYO - The operator of the Hamaoka nuclear power plant in central Japan says it has agreed to the government's request to close the facility.

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Chubu Electric Power Co convened a special board meeting Monday to decide whether to accept Prime Minister Naoto Kan's directive to close the plant's three reactors while the company builds new safety features.

The facility about 125 miles (200 kilometers) west of Tokyo is known as Japan's "most dangerous" plant because it sits in an area where a major earthquake is expected within three decades.

The government reached its conclusion after evaluating the country's 54 reactors for quake and tsunami vulnerability after the March 11 disasters that heavily damaged the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant in northeast Japan.