Japans Oldest NPP Reactivated After 12-Year Shutdown

 The first unit of the 40-year-old Takahama Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), the oldest in Japan, was reactivated on Friday after a 12-year shutdown, the Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCO) announced.
KEPCO, which is responsible for operating the NPP, said the unit was reactivated at 15:00 local time (06:00 GMT). The Takahama NPP was shut down after a tragedy at the Fukushima-1 NPP in 2011.

"We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all those who put efforts into making it possible. For about 12 years after the Great East Japan Earthquake we have been taking measures to meet standards, guided by the lessons learned from the Fukushima-1 NPP disaster and our own measures to enhance safety," the operator said in a statement.

The unit is expected to start producing energy on August 2 and, if all tests are successful, will reach full capacity around August 28, the statement read.