On Aug. 5, the Nuclear Regulatory Authority completed an on-site geological survey at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant (in Niigata Prefecture). The purpose of the survey is to conduct an investigation of the geology beneath the site where TEPCO plans to build an anti-terrorism facility.

The authority will make a conclusion on whether or not the fault line is active through the screening of the survey results. Up till now it has carried out on-site surveys on the plant’s main facility and examined the results four times. This was its first on-site survey of the anti-terrorism facility.

TEPCO conducted an in-house survey on the fault line and concluded that it is not active. The latest survey will determine if TEPCO’s conclusion is accurate. (Abridged)