Japan Inches Closer to Nuclear Revival as 3rd Reactor Starts
- Kansai Electric restarted Takahama No. 3 unit on Friday
- Restarts aid government target of nuclear share in energy mix
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The restart of the third nuclear reactor in Japan to clear post-Fukushima safety rules on Friday is a small step in the country’s quest to reestablish atomic energy as part of its energy mix.
Kansai Electric Power Co. resumed operations at the No. 3 unit of its Takahama plant near the ancient Japanese capital of Kyoto at 5:00 p.m., the company said in a statement. The country’s 40 other operable reactors remain shut in the aftermath of the massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 that caused a meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi facility. Twenty-five have applied to restart.