Takahama 2 reactor resumes operation after 12 years

Japanese utility Kansai Electric Power Company has announced that the second unit at the Takahama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture has restarted after more than 12 years. This 780 MWe pressurised water reactor is the 12th Japanese reactor to return to operation.

Outages and new safety standards

Takahama 1 was taken offline for scheduled maintenance and refuelling in January 2011, two months before the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, after which all operable reactors in Japan were shut down. The second unit at the Takahama nuclear power plant was shut down in November 2011. Kansai Electric Power Company applied to Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) in March 2015 to restart both reactors.

In April 2016, the Nuclear Regulation Authority confirmed that both units met the new safety standards. In December that year, the Authority granted permission to restart the reactors, which entered operation in 1974 and 1975, respectively, with planned operating lives of up to 60 years. They are the first Japanese reactors to receive operating licence extensions beyond 40 years under the revised regulations.

All KEPCO reactors back in operation

Kansai has now announced that Unit 2 restarted at 15:00 on 15 September and reached minimum controlled power on 16 September. The company announced the resumption of electricity generation by both turbine generators on Wednesday, 20 September.

With the restart of Takahama 2, Kansai has brought all seven of its operable reactors back into operation since the introduction of stricter safety standards. Takahama 3 and 4, each with a capacity of 1180 MWe, entered commercial operation in February 2016 and June 2017, respectively. In April this year, Kansai applied to the Nuclear Regulation Authority to extend the operating lives of the units by 20 years. Both reactors first entered commercial operation in 1985.

The Japanese government and nuclear power

In December last year, the Japanese government adopted a plan to extend the operation of existing nuclear power plants and replace ageing facilities with new, more advanced units. The move is part of a policy responding to the global shortage of fossil fuels following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and is also in line with the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

Japan is therefore seeking a balanced approach to energy security and environmental sustainability in the face of global challenges.