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The Yomiuri Shimbun

FUKUI - A 15-kilometer-long active fault zone exists near the Japan Atomic Energy Agency's Monju fast-breeder reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, according to an agency report submitted Monday to the government.

The government and the agency previously said the fault in question was not an active fault zone. But after reexamining it under revised standards for earthquake resistant designs, the agency reversed its decision.

"Even with the active fault zone, there's no problem in the reactor's seismic resistant design," the agency said.

The Shiraki-Niu fault zone, stretching north to south about two kilometers west of the Monju reactor, had been considered a lineament--a geological feature only suspected of being an active fault zone. Earthquake resistant designs are not thought to be affected by such land features.

However, after the 2006 revision of the standards, a reexamination found the fault zone could cause an earthquake of magnitude 6.8.

When local citizens filed a lawsuit in 1985 seeking revocation of the government's approval for setting up a nuclear reactor, the plaintiffs claimed the land form should be considered an active fault zone, while the government argued it was not.

In 2005, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the government, saying its safety screening for the reactor was not seriously at fault.

The agency hopes the Monju reactor will resume operations in October.