Kansai Electric Power Co. has become the first utility to apply for regulatory approval to extend the operating lives of aging reactors under the new system introduced after the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Kansai Electric Power Co. has become the first utility to apply for regulatory approval to extend the operating lives of aging reactors under the new system introduced after the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.
The power company submitted an application on April 30 to the Nuclear Regulation Authority to extend the operation of the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at its Takahama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture by 20 years.
The new regulations established after the Fukushima nuclear disaster set the life span of a nuclear reactor at 40 years. However, a one-time, 20-year extension is possible if a reactor meets the NRA’s tougher safety standards and passes additional checks.
The No. 1 reactor passed the 40-year mark last November, while the No. 2 reactor will reach that milestone in November this year.
The utility applied in March for an NRA safety screening to resume operations at the two reactors.
The updated regulations set July 2016 as the deadline for approving the extension. It remains to be seen if Kansai Electric can receive approval for operation resumption by that time as neither of the reactors uses flame-resistant cables, creating a challenge for the utility.
If it fails to meet the deadline, the company will be forced to decommission the reactors.
Kansai Electric determined the reactors were ready to have their operational life spans extended after conducting a special inspection, which it began in December.
Those checks assessed the conditions of the interiors of the reactors and the concrete buildings that house them.
In April, Kansai Electric filed an appeal of a court ruling banning the restart of the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at the Takahama plant.