Despite being the only country to have suffered the devastating effects of nuclear weapons in wartime, with over , deaths, Japan embraced the peaceful use of nuclear technology to provide a substantial portion of its electricity.
However, following the tsunami which killed 19, people and which triggered the Fukushima nuclear accident which killed no-one in March , public sentiment shifted markedly so that there were widespread public protests calling for nuclear power to be abandoned. The balance between this populist sentiment and the continuation of reliable and affordable electricity supplies is being worked out politically.
Japan has 33 nuclear power reactors classed as operable. However, in the Nuclear Regulation Authority NRA established new regulatory requirements, and just 10 reactors have since received clearance from the regulator to restart. The first two reactors to restart after the March accident at Fukushima Daiichi did so in August and October Since then, a further 11 have restarted, and another 12 operable reactors are at various stages in the process of restart approval.
Two under construction reactors Ohma and Shimane 3 have also applied. A description of each stage is provided on the NRA website. Pre-service inspections may be carried out upon receipt of the detailed design from a utility that is reviewed in stage 2 but typically take place after all three stages of review have been completed. The assessment would be based on safety guidelines in the New Regulatory Requirements formulated by the NRA in July after public consultation. The NRA pre-operational inspections, with reference to the engineering work programme, took an average of days for the five reactors that had restarted by end For the five reactors that have started since, the inspections took an average of over days.
Restarts have proceeded at a slower rate than previously anticipated for a number of reasons, including changing regulatory requirements. Most recently, in May , the NRA ordered Kansai Electric Power to 'backfit' seven of its reactors based on a new analysis of the potential eruption of a dormant volcano, Mt.
