Japan Nuclear Watchdog Finalizes Safety Requirements for Plant
Operators         By Mari Iwata and Yuko Takeo       TOKYO--
Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority said Wednesday that it has
finalized the country's new safety guidelines for nuclear power
plants that reflect the lessons learned from the March 2011
Fukushima disaster.      But the watchdog said that any restart
of the country's currently idled reactors will likely take
months.      The new guidelines will come into effect on July 8,
after which time the authority will start accepting applications
from power companies for restarts of the units.      "We've
reached a major turning point," Shunichi Tanaka, chairman of the
authority, said at the meeting of the authority that took place
Wednesday.      Finalizing the guidelines has just created a
framework for safety checks to take place, and it will take a
long time to approve restarts, Kayoko Nakamura, one of the
authority's five board members said.      The government of
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is