Kyushu Electric gets preliminary approval for Genkai No. 3 & 4 restart

Final approval can be given after a 30-day comment period.

Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority has given its approval on a preliminary report saying that Kyushu Electric's Genkai NPP Units 3 and 4 meet post-Fukushima safety standards. This condition is necessary to be met for NPPs to carry out restarts.

Genkai Units 3 and 4 are 1,127MWe pressurised water reactors. Unit 3 was shut down in December 2010, and Unit 4 a year after.

The reactors weren't restarted after a nationwide nuclear shutdown following the March 2011 Fukushima disaster.

According to a Bloomberg report, spokeswoman Naoko Iguchi said that restarting the units would boost profits by $117m a month.

Units 3 and 4's restart is expected to commence in March 2018.