Japan Utilities Seen Pushing for Atomic Restarts as Reform Looms

[FBaggins]

Japan’s opening of its power market is pressuring utilities to get nuclear plants back on line quickly to bolster finances in the face of potentially greater competition, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

When Japan’s retail power market fully liberalizes in April, utilities that have nuclear power plants online, like Kansai Electric Power Co., will have an economic advantage, according to Miho Kurosaki, a Tokyo-based analyst with BNEF. Nuclear power is the cheapest form of electricity generation, allowing producers to cut rates and edge out new entrants and old rivals.

Utilities could resume operations at 21 of Japan’s 43 functioning reactors by the end of 2017, according to one scenario forecast by BNEF. As many as 28 reactors could restart by the end of next year, according to BNEF’s most ambitious view. So far, three reactors have restarted under post-Fukushima safety rules.

...snip...

Kansai Electric, the nation’s second-biggest utility, restarted the No. 3 unit at its Takahama nuclear plant near Kyoto last month and aims to start the No. 4 unit in the next few weeks. Kyushu Electric Power Co. restarted its Sendai No. 1 and No. 2 units on Japan’s southern island of Kyushu last year.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-15/japan-utilities-seen-pushing-for-atomic-restarts-as-reform-looms