The assessment is based on new regulatory requirements formulated by the NRA in July 2013 after public consultation. Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), which calls itself a “highly independent regulatory body,” requires both a safety assessment by its inspectors and a briefing of affected local governments by the operators. The restart process is not simple, however. Sendai nuclear power plant in Sendai, Japan. ![]() “In light of the war between Ukraine and Russia, Japan’s prime minister announced that the country would accelerate the restart of nine units by winter 2022, and a further seven units by summer 2023,” the WNA has reported.ġ. Two under-construction reactors (Ohma and Shimane 3) have also applied. Since then, eight additional units have restarted, and another 15 reactors are at various stages in the process of gaining approval to restart, according to the World Nuclear Association (WNA). Unit 2 at the site followed in October that year. The first reactor to come back online was Sendai Unit 1 (Figure 1) in August 2015. All of Japan’s nuclear reactors were taken offline in the months that followed, and units have been slow to return to service. Prior to 2011, about 30% of Japan’s electricity was supplied by nuclear power, and the percentage was expected to increase to at least 40% by 2017. Japan relied heavily on nuclear power before the Fukushima units experienced partial meltdowns. ![]() ![]() Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who has held his position for a little more than a year, has been a strong advocate for restarting many of the reactors in the island nation’s existing fleet, and in August, he also suggested Japan should look at developing next-generation reactors, as soaring energy costs have forced both a policy rethink toward nuclear power and a change in public opinion. The Japanese have been hesitant to re-embrace nuclear power following the triple reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in 2011, but there are indications that nuclear power could ramp up again in Japan sooner rather than later.
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