Kansai Electric Power Co. announced it has restarted its 50-year-old Number 2 reactor at the Takahama nuclear plant in central Japan. The reactor is one of the oldest in Japan, second only to reactor Number 1, located at the same plant, which was also restarted earlier this year after a 12-year shutdown.
The reboot of the reactor comes after the implementation of stricter safety standards following a nuclear meltdown crisis that occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi complex, which was triggered by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government has also been actively promoting nuclear power generation as a means to cut carbon emissions and secure stable energy sources. To support this mission, in May, Japan’s parliament enacted a bill allowing the country’s nuclear reactors to operate beyond the current 60-year limit.
Kansai Electric aims to restore power generation and transmission at the Number 2 reactor within the week before resuming commercial operations in October 2023.
