TOKYO, Aug 26 — Japan’s nuclear watchdog today said it would revise regulations and extend the deadline to build antiterrorism facilities for nuclear power plants, moving the five-year start date to the beginning of operations rather than the approval of the plants’ planning and construction, Kyodo News reported.

The move by the Nuclear Regulation Authority, effectively seen as an easing of restrictions, will allow the ongoing operations of the No. 2 reactor at the Onagawa nuclear plant in Miyagi Prefecture, which was expected to shut down due to a failure to meet a construction deadline in December this year.

While 12 nuclear plants in the country have antiterrorism facilities, just the No. 4 unit at the Oi nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture was able to implement it within the initial time limit.

The watchdog compiled a draft revision in June and solicited public opinions, but received criticisms that the facilities should be completed before the nuclear plants begin operating and that the authority was capitulating to power companies.

The amendment will be applicable to plants that have not yet met their deadlines.

The watchdog mandated antiterrorism facilities, consisting of a control room, pumps, and other equipment, after the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster and are designed to handle events including targeted aerial attacks.

Regardless of whether they were restarted, plants that failed to construct them by the deadline would have been shut down. — Bernama