Japan passes law allowing nuclear power plants to extend operating lives

Japan’s parliament has passed a law allowing the country’s nuclear reactors to operate beyond their original maximum lifespan of 60 years, for periods when they were not in operation due to shutdowns following the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The information was reported by international news outlet Argus.

The new law, which was passed by the Japanese parliament on 31 May, is intended to help Japan ensure the security of its electricity supply and increase the use of non-fossil sources of electricity, namely nuclear power plants and plants using renewable energy sources.

Under the approved law, the existing maximum lifespan of 40 years for nuclear reactors remains in force, with a one-off extension of 20 years possible. However, reactors’ operating lives can be extended by the periods during which they were shut down within their originally assumed lifespans, particularly the periods when individual reactors were shut down as a result of the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.