Japan to re-open 6 nuclear reactors this year

Two-thirds of Japan’s 50 reactors to re-start in the next few years.

Japan plans to restart six of its idled nuclear reactors by the end of this year, said France’s Areva SA, a state-owned builder of nuclear power plants. Areva CEO Luc Oursel believes two-thirds of Japan’s reactors will restart within several years.

Oursel said it will take years to get the green light for all Japan’s nuclear reactors and some of them, like the Dai-Ichi nuclear plant at Fukushima, would remain closed forever.

Areva used to provide nuclear fuel cells for Japanese nuclear power plants. It is about to ship its first shipment in two years of mixed oxide nuclear fuel to Japan from the port of Cherbourg in northern France in early April.

Japan shut down all of its nuclear power plants after the disastrous the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster in 2011. Following this, Tokyo declared complete shutdown of nuclear facilities.

Only two reactors at Kansai Electric’s Ohi plant near Takahama out of 50 nuclear reactors remain online.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe fully supports the idea of restarting nuclear reactors despite the approaching second anniversary of Fukushima disaster on March 11.