The Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) on Wednesday gave the OK for Shikoku Electric Power Co to restart the No. 3 reactor at its Ikata nuclear power plant in Ehime Prefecture.
The safety approval is still only one of three needed before the reactor can go back online. The consent of local authorities, which is seen as a formality, is also required, along with operational checks.
The NRA signed off on a provisional assessment that the Ikata reactor meets new design standards introduced after Fukushima.
The decision will be a boost for operator Shikoku Electric, which relied on Ikata -- its sole nuclear power plant -- for about 40% of its electricity output before the meltdowns at Fukushima led to the shutdown of all the country's reactors.
The Ikata No. 3 reactor started operations in 1994 and has a capacity of 890 megawatts.
The future of the Ikata plant's two other reactors, each with capacity of 566 megawatts, is unclear. One is almost 40 years old, which is the lifetime limit for reactors in Japan without a special extension that will be costly to achieve.
Shikoku Electric hasn't applied for restarts of that reactor or the No. 2 unit, which began operations in 1982.
For the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, resuming nuclear power, which provided about a third of Japan's electricity supply before Fukushima, is key to lifting the economy out of two decades of anemic growth.
The country has switched to fossil fuels to compensate for the closure of reactors, pushing imports of liquefied natural gas to a record-high 7.78 trillion yen in the financial year ended March 31.
Four other reactors operated by Kansai Electric Power and Kyushu Electric Power have passed through the first stage of regulatory checks.
© Japan Today/Thomson Reuters
21 Comments
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Yubaru
In the words of Theoden King...."So it begins".
ListenTheTruth
Stupidity knows no bounds. Only last week. Big earthquake in Oita.
Akula
Ikata itself is very well off for what is essentially a small fishing town and it's all related to the power plant being there. Some of the public facilities in the town are quite lavish given the population.
Some very well paid workers living in places like Yawatahama really help keep that local economy afloat. Hard to see that there will be much local opposition to the plant restarting.
FizzBit
There is nothing anyone could do to stop the start-ups except for a full participating public voting NO to the LDP and the DPJ. Our only choice is to keep our fingers crossed or move out.
Star-viking
More good news, lower carbon emissions on the way!
milanese
So, little by little, they are restarting the old nuclear reactors in the same old facilities. Will the result be something similar to what we've already seen ?
nandakandamanda
Earthquakes and tsunami aside for a minute.
50 meters per second winds in Shikoku right now means 112 mph, 180 kph, Beaufort 15. These power plants had better be ruggedly built.
Converter.
http://www.csgnetwork.com/windspeedconv.html
Qamar
So, where money is involved, the cost of future human lives do not count, do they? Do humans ever learn?
Supey11
@zichi
Yes that would be a concern elsewhere, but the reactor sits on the Seto Sea coast and the Pacific is blocked here by the very long Sadmisaki Penninsula, which has a ridge with an average elevation of about 100-150 meters. A tsunami here higher than 10meters would be geographically impossible (tsunamis don't make hooking right turns after a narrow channel into a broad expanse of water like the Seto Sea) unless it was due to something like an asteroid impact... at which point the reactor may be the least of people's concerns.
nandakandamanda
Supey11, don't discount Godzilla on Ikata.
"In Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, Godzilla approaches the nuclear plant, and the actions of the Japan Self Defense Forces are stalled in action against the monster, fearing that a direct attack could cause a nuclear explosion and destroy the planet. Thankfully, the Super X-III weapon comes to the rescue and freezes the beast before he can do any more harm." Wiki
YongYang
@Supey, if there's one thing nature keeps doing it's dumping our 'sound and definitive' impossible all over our stupid heads.
Supey11
Nice one @nandakandamanda! I actually saw that movie, but didn't realize then it was Ikata. So yes, as YongYang points out, here is a case of nature redefining the impossible!
(but seriously, anyone suggesting Ikata is susceptible to a tsunami is geographically ignorant, and the current typhoon is pretty weak compared to much stronger ones in the past that Ikata stood up to perfectly fine... but that's not to say an earthquake is out of the question, or asteroid impact.)
Supey11
@zichi
I didn't assume anything nor claim zero possibility of a tsunami. To answer, I'll just quote myself from above: "A tsunami here higher than 10meters would be geographically impossible".
YongYang
Not true Supey, there's this big, huge in fact, thing called: Chance. It increase over time. Never rule it out. Especially when you're thing that lives for a mere 70 years-ish, seriously, what DO you know?
Star-viking
Zichi
Are you implying the reactor does not sit 10 metres above sea level?
thomas crane1
Sir; it is good the Ikata reactor will start-Its good to see Japan has not ignored the VALUE; of nuclear power it will lessen energy imports ?
Star-viking
Claimed is a loaded word Zichi. Stated would be better.