The photo is soursed from Nikkei
The recent changes have been the most serious ones from the time of Fukushima-1 accident in 2011, after which significant restrictions were introduced in the nuclear industry. In particular, in July 2013, the standard nuclear reactors lifecycle was set as 40 years; the NPP operating company was entitled to apply for extension just once, but such extension could not exceed 20 years. From now on, the procedure will be different: after 30 years of operation, the NPP operator will have to apply for the extension every 10 years; the number of such extensions will not be limited, and the time of NPP operating in the grid-isolated mode required for inspections will be deducted from the total operating life.
After Fukushima-1 accident, the Cabinet emphasised several times that the option of building new reactors was not on the radar. However, now this restriction is lifted: the Cabinet encourages developing innovative reactors featuring high safety standards to replace the generating units to be decommissioned. The new generation reactors are to be brought on stream in 2030-s.
According to IAEA, 60 reactors of 51 GW total capacity were commissioned in Japan between 1963 and 2009. However, only 17 reactors of 17.1 GW total capacity were operational by January 2023; 16 more reactors of 16 GW total capacity were suspended, and the remaining 27 reactors of 17.9 GW were fully decommissioned. It resulted in the situation when nuclear sector in Japan accounted only for 6.4% of national generation in 2021 vs. 25.7% in 2010 (as per Ember research centre). Increasing the share of NPPs in the energy generation will facilitate the transition to carbon neutrality, which is Japan’s target for 2050.
