Chubu files Hamaoka 3 and 4 withdrawal; NRA issues no disposition

Chubu Electric Power's withdrawal of the Hamaoka units 3 and 4 applications is now on file, and Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) has closed the applications without ruling on them. A withdrawal request dated September 25, 2026 and signed by Kingo Hayashi as president asks to withdraw six applications, and an NRA letter of the same date tells Chubu the regulator will issue no disposition on them. Both were distributed at the NRA commission's September 30, 2026 meeting.

The six go back to 2014: the reactor installation change permit applications for unit 3 (June 16, 2015) and unit 4 (January 26, 2015); three construction plan approval applications (February 14, April 24 and August 28, 2014); and a safety regulation change approval application (February 14, 2014). Chubu's September 25 release footnotes the set as the two permit applications plus unit 4's construction plan and safety regulation applications. The reason given: serious doubt about the reliability of the application materials and later review responses after the investigation committee's report received September 11, 2026. The unit 4 permit application has been withdrawn once before: the NRA's record of Chubu's February 14, 2014 unit 4 filing marks that installation change application withdrawn on January 26, 2015, the date the new request gives for unit 4's.

Jiji Press, citing the NRA, reported on September 25, 2026 that this is the first time a screening application has been withdrawn because of misconduct. The NRA's inspection continues. A secretariat paper for the NRA's September 17, 2026 meeting says that after receiving a further part of Chubu's ordered report on September 14, the inspection will keep checking three matters (hybrid-synthesis connection periods, response-spectrum-matched simulated ground motions, and helpline handling), then go to a SERP (significance evaluation and regulatory measures) meeting for a provisional evaluation before the Commission decides the final result.

Hayashi, who resigned as president on September 30, 2026, said that day that Hamaoka's importance and necessity have not changed and that being recognized locally as qualified to re-apply will be a long road. The board decision behind the filing is in Chubu withdraws Hamaoka 3 and 4 applications after seismic-data inquiry.