TEPCO nuclear plant could be shut over 1 yr -media

TOKYO, July 26 (Reuters) Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s quake-hit nuclear power plant in northwestern Japan could take longer than a year to resume operations if defects are found in key safety devices, media quoted an expert set to head an investigation team as saying.

''At least one year is needed for operations to resume,'' Haruki Madarame, a University of Tokyo professor specialising in nuclear engineering, was quoted by Kyodo news agency as saying on Wednesday night.

The Nikkei business daily quoted Madarame as saying it was impossible to resume operations of all seven reactors at TEPCO's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station in Niigata Prefecture within ''a year or two''.

A TEPCO spokesman said he was unaware of Madarame's remarks.

''We are trying to restart the plant as soon as possible,'' he said.

Fears about the safety of Japan's nuclear industry were revived by leaks of water with low-level radiation from the plant in the city of Kashiwazaki after it was hit by a 6.8 magnitude quake on July 16.

The facility -- the world's largest nuclear power plant -- was shut down automatically in the quake and will remain closed indefinitely for safety checks.

A crane in a building that houses one of the reactors was badly damaged by the quake, making it hard to carry out safety checks and inspections, TEPCO officials said.

The nuclear plant was designed to generate more than 3 percent of Japan's power.

TEPCO said today it had placed special fire engines designed to fight chemical fires at all three of its nuclear power plants, and it aimed to have several crew stationed around the clock starting next month.

Workers took hours to put out a fire at an electrical transformer at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant after last week's earthquake.

Other utilities also submitted similar emergency preparedness plans to the ministry.

POWER SEARCH TEPCO has said it will buy power and work existing thermal and nuclear plants harder to meet peak electricity demand during summer.

In the latest effort to secure electricity during the peak summer season, TEPCO has asked the government for permission to resume operations of its Shiobara hydro power plant to help make up for a big loss in output following the shutdown.

A second TEPCO spokesman said that if the request is granted, it would like to use the Shiobara plant from the earliest possible date until Septtember 7.

TEPCO said in a statement the move came to ensure stable electricity supply for extremely hot weather, which could boost electricity demand to around 64 million kilowatts.

Last week, the company said it could supply a peak of 62.5 million kilowatts of electricity output in July and 62.1 million kilowatts in August, with help from other companies.

The hydro power plant in Tochigi prefecture, north of Tokyo, with a capacity of 900,000 kilowatts, has been shut down since January for investigation after data manipulation was discovered.

''We've submitted the request today. We don't know when we'll receive the reply,'' a third TEPCO official said.

The company distributed about 40,000 fliers of apology for the accident to residents in Kashiwazaki and neighbouring cities today.

''We apologise for having caused you trouble,'' the flier said.

It also said the levels of radiation contained in the water leaked from the reactors were below legally defined limits.

REUTERS AGL HT1622