Unit 3 at Japan’s Takahama NPP in Fukui prefecture resumed commercial operation on 26 February, making it the third reactor in Japan to return to service since new safety and security regulations were introduced following the March 2011 Fukushima-Daiichi accident. The 830MWe pressurised water reactor, which first began commercial operation in January 1985, was restarted on 29 January 2016.
Takahama 4 was restarted on 26 February in preparation for a return to full commercial operation at the end of March, according to plant operator Kansai Electric Power Co Kepco. The reactor achieved criticality on 27 February. Both unit 3 and 4 use uranium-plutonium mixed oxide (mox) fuel.
The restart follows the resumption of operations at two reactors at Kyushu Electric Power Co’s Sendai plant in Kagoshima Prefecture last year – the first reactors to resume full commercial following the post Fukushima closures. Another 20 reactors are moving through the Nuclear Regulation Authority’s (NRA’s) restart process.
