According to the laws regulating nuclear reactors in Japan, reactors are limited as a rule to a forty-year lifetime. However, that can be extended another twenty years if recognized by the Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) of Japan. Kansai EP wants to extend the license for Takahama-1 and -2.
In February, the NRA prepared for the first time a certificate proposal for Units 1 and 2 serving as the draft for a certificate for reactors, operating more than forty years, which have passed new regulatory standards. In effect, the NRA cleared the two reactors, but remaining procedures must be completed by July confirming that they have also passed operation-extension inspections dedicated to anti-aging measures and the like.
