Japan's nuclear regulatory body decided Wednesday to effectively ban Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. from restarting a nuclear plant on the Sea of Japan coast after the complex was found to have serious safety flaws.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority decided at its meeting to ban TEPCO from transporting nuclear fuel to the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture or loading it into the reactors. A final decision will be made after the operator is given an opportunity to provide an explanation.

The punitive measure will be effective until TEPCO's response to the incident is "in a situation where self-sustained improvement is expected," according to the regulator.

The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant was found to have been vulnerable to unauthorized entry in 15 locations in March last year when its intruder detection systems and backup system were defective, TEPCO and the regulator said earlier this month.

The regulator provisionally rated the breach at the plant to be at the worst level in terms in safety and severity, marking the first time it has given such an assessment.

Facing huge compensation payments and other costs stemming from the 2011 crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant it operates, TEPCO had been keen to resume operation of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa to reduce its dependence on costly fossil fuel imports for non-nuclear thermal power generation.

==Kyodo

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