Japan’s Kansai Electric Power has restarted another reactor at its Takahama nuclear power plant, the 12threactor to be returned to service in that country since the Fukushima disaster in March 2011 idled Japan’s entire nuclear fleet.
Kansai on September 15 said the 826-MW Takahama No. 2, which originally entered service in 1975 and is the country’s second-oldest operating reactor, is again generating electricity after being offline since November 2011. Japan is slowly returning reactors to service after the government called for new safety measures and other upgrades to be implemented at any nuclear plant seeking to return to service.
The restart at Takahama means Japan now has a dozen operating reactors with combined generation capacity of 11.6 GW. Officials have said there are still 33 reactors in Japan designated for commercial use, down from 54 prior to the Fukushima incident. Those reactors in total represent 33.1 GW of generation capacity. Officials said 21 reactors in operating condition prior to Fukushima have been decommissioned.