Japanese utility Tepco faces nuclear restart delay

Market: Coal, Electricity, Natural gas
27/02/25

Japanese utility Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) is facing a possible further delay in restarting its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata prefecture, as the company is likely to miss a deadline for installing anti-terrorism facilities at the No.7 and No.6 reactors.

Under Japanese nuclear safety regulations, nuclear power plant operators are required to build emergency control facilities in the event of severe accidents such as an aircraft crash or terrorist attack, within five years of receiving approvals to upgrade a reactor. Operators that miss the deadline will have to shut down their reactors.

Tepco said on 27 February that it has revised its target date to complete the counter-terrorism measures at the 1,356MW Kashiwazaki-Kariwa No.7 reactor from March 2025 to August 2029, after reviewing the upgrade construction process. This means that Tepco will not be able to meet its October 2025 deadline. This will force the reactor to shut for an extended period to complete the reinforcement work, even if Tepco secures local government approval to restart and successfully resumes operations before the deadline.

Tepco has also extended a target date to complete the counter-terrorism measures at the 1,356MW Kashiwazaki-Kariwa No.6 reactor from September 2026 to September 2031, later than the September 2029 deadline.

The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa No.7 and No.6 reactors have been closed since August 2011 and March 2012 respectively, following the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. The reactors have already cleared the post-Fukushima stricter safety inspection by the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), but still need to secure local approval as the final hurdle.

Niigata governor Hideyo Hanazumi has been cautious about whether to approve the restoration of the Kashiwazaki-Karaiwa nuclear plant because of safety concerns, reiterating he will prioritise the concerns of local residents.

Tepco has tried to restart the No.7 reactor first, while completing the loading of nuclear fuel into the reactor in April 2024. But given that the October 2025 deadline for the No.7 reactor is looming, the company may refocus on restoring the No.6 reactor to utilise it until its safety deadline of September 2029. Tepco plans to load nuclear fuel into the No.6 reactor on 10 June.

The possible return of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant will symbolic of Tepco's progress, given it has scrapped the melted-down Fukushima Daiichi and its nearby Fukushima Daini nuclear plants. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is now Tepco's sole nuclear plant, and its return is expected to help ease the risk of an electricity shortage like the one that occurred in January 2021 in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Tepco estimates that the restart of one nuclear reactor, which can produce 10TWh/yr of electricity, will help boost the company's profits by around ¥100bn ($668mn). It also expects the return of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa No.7 reactor will help reduce CO2 emissions by around 3.3mn t/yr.

By Motoko Hasegawa

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