Japan will delay by one year the construction of eight out of the 19 planned reactors, said the Natural Resources and Energy Agency.
Those subject to the delay include reactors 7 and 8 at Tepco's Fukushima 1, and a reactor at Electric Power Development's Oma plant, in Aomori prefecture.
The 52 commercial reactors in Japan ran at an average capacity of 80.5% in fiscal 2001. This was the seventh year in a row that average capacity had exceeded 80%. BWRs operated at an average capacity of 78.6%, and PWRs at an average capacity of 82.9%. The average period between safety checks at the 52 plants was 12.9 months, the longest on record. The legal maximum is 13 months.
