Kansai Electric's Ohi-4 nuclear reactor resumes power generation

It will be commercially operational by June 2018.

The fourth unit of Kansai Electric's Ohi nuclear power plant (Ohi-4) in the Fukui prefecture of Japan has resumed power generation and is expected to re-enter commercial operation in June 2018. The 1,127 MW pressurized water reactor (PWR), along with similar Ohi-3 reactor, was shut down in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. The two units were given permission to restart in August 2012 but were taken offline again by the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) in September 2013. Ohi-3 already restarted in March 2018 and resumed commercial operation in April 2018.

In December 2017, Kansai Electric decided to decommission two reactors at its Ohi nuclear power, citing technical problems to meet new safety standards rather than related costs. Ohi-1 and 2, rated 1,175 MW each, were put into service in 1979 and nearing their standard operating life of 40 years. Both had been offline since the Fukushima disaster in March 2011 and they were removed from the list of commercial reactors on 1 March 2018.

This article was originally published by Enerdata.