The Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) of Japan has signed off on the basic safety of the third reactor of the Ikata nuclear power plant on Shikoku island. The 890 MW reactor, commissioned in 1994, is operated by Shikoku Electric, and accounted for nearly 40% of the company's power supply before its shut down in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in March 2011. Ikata-3 will also require operational checks and the consent of local authorities to get NRA's final sign off and to restart. Shikoku Electric will not apply for restart for its two other Ikata reactors, rated 538 MW each and commissioned in 1977 and 1982 respectively; extending their lifetime beyond the Japanese limit of 40 years (to be reached in 2017 and 2022) would prove too expensive.
Ikata would be the third nuclear power plant to restart, as Kyushu Electric was allowed in April 2015 to restart two reactors at its Sendai nuclear power plant; Kansai Electric also received approval from the NRA for two units at its Takahama power plant.
Interested in Power Plants?
Enerdata has developed a market research service to screen, monitor and analyse the development of power generation assets.
Power Plant Tracker offers an interactive database and a powerful search engine covering power plants worldwide – including both installed and planned capacities for renewables and fossil fuels.