22 May 2017

Takahama‑4 Restart in Japan After Court Injunction Was Overturned

Takahama-4 Restart in Japan After Court Injunction Was Overturned

World Nuclear Industry Status Report (WNISR), 22 May 2017

The Takahama-4 reactor was connected to the grid on 22 May 2017. The restart of the 33-year old 880 MW Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR), owned by Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCO) and located on Takahama Bay in Fukui Prefecture in western Japan, follows a ruling on 28 March 2017 by the Osaka High Court that overturned an injunction against operation of the Takahama-3 and -4 reactors. Both reactors were ordered shutdown in a landmark judgement by the Otsu District Court in Shiga Prefecture on 9 March 2016 filed by 29 citizens of the prefecture, which borders Fukui Prefecture. Prior to the Otsu court order Takahama-4 reactor had failed to connect to the grid as planned on 29 February 2016, after a nearly five-year-long outage. Takahama-3 had been connected to the grid on 1 February 2016 after nearly four years of long term outage but was subsequently shutdown on 10 March following the Otsu ruling. Full commercial operation of Takahama-4 is planned for mid-June 2017, according to KEPCO. Grid connection for the Takahama-3 reactor is planned for early June and full commercial operation in July. Both Takahama reactors will operate with plutonium-uranium mixed oxide fuel or MOX, supplied by French company AREVA, with 24 assemblies in reactor unit 3 and four assemblies in unit 4. The restart of Takahama-3 and 4 will mean five reactors are operating in Japan and 33 in Long Term Outage (LTO) since none of these have generated electricity during 2014 or 2015. WNISR considers that all 10 Fukushima units are shut down and will never restart.