Genkai 4 only operating reactor in Japan following shutdowns

摘要

Kansai Electric Power Co. (EPC) took Unit 4 of the Ohi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture, Japan offline for routine maintenance and refueling on November 3. The unit is scheduled to remain idle for approximately six weeks, with a view to restart the unit in mid-December. Ohi 4’s shutdown marks the first time that all of Kansai EPC’s reactors have been offline at the same time since May 2017. In addition, Ohi 3 has been offline since July for a maintenance outage. It was reported at the end of September that site investigations of Ohi 3 revealed damage within the plant’s piping systems. The facility was initially expected to be offline for only threemonths. However, Kansai EPC submitted all repair plans to Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) with the expectation that it will complete the requisite upgrades at Ohi 3 sometime in January 2021, with a view to restart the unit in February 2021. Ohi 3 & 4 are both 1,180 MWe PWRs.