THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
July 28, 2023 at 18:01 JST
Japan's oldest active nuclear reactor resumed operations at the Takahama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture on July 28 for the first time in 12 and a half years.
Kansai Electric Power Co.'s No. 1 reactor at the Takahama plant first went online in 1974.
At 3 p.m. on July 28, work began to pull out the control rods that suppress nuclear fission inside the reactor and the reactor went back online.
The No. 1 reactor was shut down during a regular inspection in January 2011, prior to the triple meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in March of that year.
The reactor is scheduled to begin transmitting electricity on Aug. 2 after connecting the generator and the transmission line. It is expected to resume commercial operations on Aug. 28.
There are 25 nuclear reactors nationwide whose operators have applied for safety screenings as a step before being allowed to restart them.
Of these, 11 reactors, including those undergoing regular inspections, have actually resumed operations.
The Takahama No. 2 reactor, which first came online in 1975, is now offline for a regular inspection. It is also scheduled to resume operations on Sept. 15.
Among KEPCO’s aging reactors that have been in operation for more than 40 years, the ones that have been or will be restarted are Takahama’s two reactors and the No. 3 reactor at the Mihama nuclear power plant in the same prefecture.
After the 2011 reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear plant, the service period of reactors was limited to 40 years, in principle, and up to 60 years at most.
But the administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida changed its nuclear power policy this year.
It included an extension of operating periods and new construction of nuclear plants in its “basic policy for achieving GX (green transformation),” which was decided in a Cabinet meeting in February.
The government called for “maximum use” of nuclear power plant to secure a stable energy supply, as well as renewable energy.
The law on GX decarbonized power sources was enacted in May.
That made it possible to operate nuclear power plants for more than 60 years by excluding the shutdown periods--prompted by Nuclear Regulation Authority screenings, court orders or administrative guidance--from the total operating time.
The Takahama No. 1 reactor could become the first one to run for more than 60 years.
However, some concerns have been raised about the deterioration of reactor components after the many decades of operation.
(This article was written by Tsunetaka Sato and Takashi Yoshida.)
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From right, the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at the Takahama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture (Takeshi Iwashita)
