The aging No. 3 and 4 reactors at the Takahama nuclear plant in central Japan were approved Wednesday by the nuclear regulator to continue operating for 20 more years, as the government maintains support of the technology's use in the resource-poor country's energy mix.
The decision makes them the seventh and eighth reactors nationwide that the Nuclear Regulation Authority has green-lit for extensions after 40 years of operations. All four reactors at the facility in Fukui Prefecture have now been approved to run for 60 years.
Both the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors are currently online and will reach their 40th anniversaries in January and June of 2025, respectively. Operator Kansai Electric Power Co. applied for the extension in April 2023 after carrying out special inspections of the facilities.
The regulator's Chairman, Shinsuke Yamanaka, said at a meeting that nuclear reactor pressure vessels tend to become brittle due to radiation, but an official at the organization's secretariat said the reactors had been evaluated carefully and that there was "no problem."
The facility's No. 1 and 2 reactors were approved in June 2016 to operate beyond 40 years from their start date. In 2023, both reactors were rebooted for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.
Following the nuclear accident, the government introduced rules mandating that nuclear units can operate for up to 40 years, with extensions to 60 years possible pending approval.
But in May 2023, the Japanese 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.
Reactors approved under the previous framework will need to gain permission again from the regulator by June 2025.
