To use this site, please disable the ad blocking feature and reload the page.
This website uses cookies to collect information about your visit for purposes such as showing you personalized ads and content, and analyzing our website traffic. By clicking “Accept all,” you will allow the use of these cookies.
Users accessing this site from EEA countries and UK are unable to view this site without your consent. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.
Yomiuri Shimbun file photo Kansai Electric Power Co.’s nuclear power plant in Takahama, Fukui Prefecture
Jiji Press
11:53 JST, July 29, 2023
FUKUI (Jiji Press) — Kansai Electric Power Co. on Friday restarted the 48-year-old No. 1 reactor at its Takahama nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture for the first time in 12 years.
The Takahama No. 1 reactor is the oldest of Japan’s nuclear reactors not set for decommissioning.
It is the second time that a reactor that is more than 40 years old has been reactivated, after the restart of the No. 3 reactor at the same power utility’s Mihama plant, also in Fukui.
The Takahama No. 1 reactor may become the first reactor in the country to effectively operate for more than 60 years, which is allowed under a law enacted in May.
The Takahama plant’s No. 2 reactor is scheduled to go back online in mid-September.
Kansai Electric started removing the control rods of the No. 1 reactor at around 3 p.m. Friday. The reactor is expected to reach criticality, or a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction, around 6 a.m. Saturday and begin generating and transmitting electricity on Wednesday.
