Japan Shimane Nuclear Plant Resumes Operation After 13 Years... 14th Reactor Since Fukushima Accident

Japan's Chugoku Electric Power Company restarted the reactor of Unit 2 at the Shimane Nuclear Power Plant in Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture, western Honshu, on the 7th, Kyodo News reported.

Shimane Nuclear Power Plant, Japan. Photo by EPA Yonhap News

This marks the reactor's restart about 13 years after it was shut down in January 2012 for regular inspection.

Chugoku Electric Power plans to begin power generation and transmission later this month and resume commercial operation in early next month.

Shimane Nuclear Power Plant Unit 2 is a boiling water reactor, the same type as the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which experienced an accident immediately after the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011.

Since the Great East Japan Earthquake, this is the second time a boiling water reactor has been restarted, following the restart of Unit 2 at the Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant in Miyagi Prefecture, north of Fukushima Prefecture, last October.

Shimane Nuclear Power Plant Unit 2 began commercial operation in 1989 and was shut down in January 2012 for regular inspection.

Shimane Nuclear Power Plant is the only nuclear power plant located in a prefectural capital city in Japan.

Before the restart, concerns were raised that no effective measures had been established to safely evacuate approximately 450,000 residents living within a 30 km radius of the plant in the event of an accident.

Some residents raised these issues and filed an injunction request in May to prohibit the restart of Shimane Nuclear Power Plant Unit 2, but the court did not accept it.

Following the meltdown accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, Japan temporarily suspended the operation of all nuclear power plants domestically, but recently has been promoting the expansion of nuclear power operations to implement decarbonization policies.

Shimane Nuclear Power Plant Unit 2 is the 14th nuclear reactor to be restarted since the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident.