Application for 3 more restarts

February 3, 2015

Kansai Electric to apply shortly to restart three more reactors

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201502030042

By KOJI NISHIMURA/ Staff Writer

OSAKA--Kansai Electric Power Co. will seek approval from the Nuclear Regulation Authority before the end of March to restart three reactors at its Mihama and Takahama power plants in Fukui Prefecture.

It also plans to ask the NRA to conduct safety assessments of the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors of the Oi nuclear power plant in Oi, Fukui Prefecture, as soon as the company deems they are ready to go back online.

With the utility having already requested NRA screening of the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors of both the Takahama and Oi nuclear power plants, the latest decision brings to nine the number of reactors Kansai Electric is preparing to restart.

The utility said Feb. 2 it intends to reactivate the No. 3 reactor in the Mihama facility in the town of Mihama and the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at the Takahama plant in Takahama.

Kansai Electric will submit requests to the nuclear watchdog body for safety screening to ensure it is in compliance with tightened regulation standards.

The utility operates 11 nuclear reactors in total.

The remaining two are the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at the Mihama nuclear power plant, which are due to be scrapped because of their age.

A final decision on decommissioning will be made by the end of March.

Kansai Electric decided to commission five more reactors based on its judgment that the restarts will bring profits despite the costs of revamping safety measures.

Reactors that are more than 40 years old are required to undergo a special inspection before the NRA will agree to extend their service.

To comply with these regulations, the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at the Takahama nuclear power plant, which are 40 and 39 years old, respectively, are currently undergoing special inspections by Kansai Electric.

The No. 3 reactor at the Mihama nuclear power plant, which has been operating for 38 years, is next to follow.