Hokuriku Electric Power Co. shares rose sharply Monday morning on hopes for a nuclear reactor restart after a government panel accepted the company’s evaluation that there are no active faults underneath a nuclear reactor in central Japan.
The shares were recently 13% higher at 610 yen after rising as much as 16% earlier.
On Friday, a panel at Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority accepted Hokuriku Electric’s evaluation that there are no active faults underneath the Shika nuclear reactor No. 2 in the central Japanese prefecture of Ishikawa, after reviewing the company’s assessment of geological conditions for the site.
Seven years ago, a government panel said that it couldn’t rule out the possibility that some faults remain active, citing a lack of data.
Restarts of nuclear reactors have been a contentious issue in Japan after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011.
Due partly to higher prices of fuel, Hokuriku Electric expects to book net loss of Y90.00 billion ($662.5 million) on revenue of Y850.00 billion for the fiscal year ending in March.