Kansai fine tunes Takahama plans

Thursday, 5 February 2015

The restart of two of Japan's idled nuclear reactors has moved a step closer after Kansai Electric Power Company submitted revisions to its work plans for approval by the country's nuclear regulator.

Takahama (Image: NRA)

The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) ruled in December that Takahama units 3 and 4 meet its new regulatory requirements, announced in July 2013, and granted preliminary permission to Kansai to make changes to the reactor installations of the two units.

Kansai has submitted various amendments to its plans to increase the plant's resistance to extreme events such as earthquakes, tsunami and tornadoes, in accordance with the regulator's requirements, since it first applied to the NRA for permission to restart the units in July 2013. Such amendments have resulted from the findings of reviews carried out along the way, incorporating the details from the latest equipment designs.

Japan's entire fleet of 48 operable nuclear reactors has remained out of service since the Fukushima accident of 2011 - Takahama 3 and 4 have not operated since they were shut for periodic inspections in February 2012 and July 2011, respectively. Kansai was one of four utilities to apply for NRA inspections of idled reactors on the day that the NRA introduced new safety regulations in July 2013.

So far, the NRA has only approved the restart of two other reactors, granting Kyushu Electric Power Company permission to make changes to the reactor installations of Sendai units 1 and 2 in September 2014. Local and prefectural government approval is also required before they can restart.

Safety assessment applications for 17 other reactors remain at the review stage.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News