Monthly Report

Shika Nuclear Power Plant post-Noto earthquake repairs to take at least 2 years

July 26, 2024
Shika Nuclear Power Plant Unit 2 Main Transformer
Shika Unit 2’s main transformer was damaged beyond repaid during the 2024 Noto earthquake. (Image: Hokuriku EPCO)

Full restoration of the temporarily shut down Shika Nuclear Power Plant’s facilities damaged during the 2024 Noto earthquake that hit near the power plant in January will take at least two years, the power plant’s operator Hokuriku Electric Power announced on July 24, 2024.

Currently, the power plant’s Unit 2 is not able to receive power through two of the lines that connect it to the grid due to the unit’s main transformer having been damaged by the earthquake. “Of the five lines, three can receive power and so the power plant’s safety is ensured,” said Hokuriku EPCO’s statement. The company plans to perform modifications that will allow it to receive power from all five lines for increased redundancy by the first half of FY2025.

That said, the company said the full restoration of the power receiving facility will take at least two years, citing the need to fully replace Unit 2’s main transformer and the long lead time it will take to manufacture one.

Both Shika Nuclear Power Plant’s 540 MW Unit 1 and 1,358 MW Unit 2 were temporarily shut down in 2011 following the Fukushima nuclear accident. After a nearly 10-year long process including a deliberation about whether or not the power plant sits on an active fault line, the Nuclear Regulation Authority deemed the power plant as meeting the country’s newly required safety measures in March 2023.

After that, Hokuriku EPCO applied for a permission to restart Unit 2 in early 2026. The January earthquake has now derailed the plans with the repairs expected to take at least until mid-2026.

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