Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) has approved changes to safety regulations at Kansai Electric Power Company’s Takahama NPP in Fukui Prefecture, allowing unit 1 operate for more than 50 years. Takahama 1 is Japan’s oldest nuclear power reactor in operation.
NRA’s secretariat recently informed the commissioners that additional checks had been conducted to assess deterioration inside the reactor and outlined plans to replace some components as needed. The commissioners then unanimously approved the change to the safety regulations, clearing the way for the reactor’s extended operation.
All four reactors at Takahama have now been approved to run for 60 years. Units 3&4, 830 MWe pressurised water reactors (PWRs) that began operation in 1985, are currently online and will reach their 40th anniversaries in January and June of 2025. Kansai Electric applied for their extension in April 2023 after carrying out special inspections of the facilities. Units 1&2, 780 MWe (net) PWRs, which began operation in 1974 and 1975, were approved in June 2016 to operate beyond 40 years. In 2023, both reactors were restarted for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.
In July, Kansai Electric was given prior consent by Fukui Prefecture and Takahama Town to replace the steam generators at units 3&4 of and to apply for replacement of the reactor internals at units 1&2.
Under post Fukushima regulations which came into force in July 2013, Japanese reactors have a nominal operating period of 40 years. One extension to this – limited to a maximum of 20 years – may be granted, requiring amongst other things, a special inspection to verify the integrity of reactor pressure vessels and containment vessels after 35 years of operation. However, in May 2023, the government enacted a bill to introduce a new system that will allow the country’s nuclear reactors to operate beyond the current 60-year limit. The legislation comes into effect in June 2025.
