The Japanase Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) has approved safety reports on units 6 and 7 of TEPCO's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture. The 1,356 MWe Advanced Boiling Water Reactors are the first BWRs in the country to meet new regulatory standards. So far, five of the 42 operable reactors in Japan have cleared new regulatory safety standards regulations and have restarted operations.
The two reactors were offline of up to three years following the 2007 Niigata-Chuetsu earthquake, which didn't damage the reactors, and they were not affected by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Works to improve the plant's resistance to earthquake have been carried out since then and the reactors have been offline for periodic inspections since March 2012 and August 2011, respectively. TEPCO filed for safety assessments of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa 6 and 7 in September 2013.
The Japanese power utility aims to restart these two reactors, to raise its earning by an estimated JPY 100bn (US$883m) per year.