Tsuruga nuclear power plant

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Tsuruga nuclear power plant is a shelved nuclear power plant in Tsuruga, Fukui, Japan.

Project Details

Table 1: Unit-level project details for Tsuruga nuclear power plant

Unit name	Status	Commissioning year	Retirement year	Nameplate capacity	Reactor type	Model	Owner	Operator
1	Retired	1970	2015	357 MW	Boiling water reactor	BWR-2	Japan Atomic Power Co [100%]	Japan Atomic Power
2	Mothballed	1987	–	1160 MW	Pressurized water reactor	M (4-loop)	Japan Atomic Power Co [100%]	Japan Atomic Power
3	Shelved	–	–	1538 MW	Pressurized water reactor	Mitsubishi advanced pressurized water reactor (APWR)	Japan Atomic Power Co [100%]	Japan Atomic Power
4	Shelved	–	–	1538 MW	Pressurized water reactor	Mitsubishi advanced pressurized water reactor (APWR)	Japan Atomic Power Co [100%]	Japan Atomic Power

Table 2: Additional unit-level timeline details for Tsuruga nuclear power plant

Unit name	Construction start	First criticality (more info)	First grid connection	Commercial operation	Retirement date
1	November 24, 1966	October 3, 1969	November 16, 1969	March 14, 1970	April 27, 2015
2	November 6, 1982	May 28, 1986	June 19, 1986	February 17, 1987	–

Table 3: Additional unit-level capacity details for Tsuruga nuclear power plant

(Read more about nuclear capacity definitions.)

Unit name	Reference net capacity	Design net capacity	Thermal capacity
1	340 MW	341 MW	1070 MWt
2	1108 MW	1115 MW	3411 MWt

Location

Table 4: Unit-level location details for Tsuruga nuclear power plant

Unit name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
1	Tsuruga, Fukui, Japan	35.7506, 136.0197 (exact)
2	Tsuruga, Fukui, Japan	35.7506, 136.0197 (exact)
3	Tsuruga, Fukui, Japan	35.7506, 136.0197 (exact)
4	Tsuruga, Fukui, Japan	35.7506, 136.0197 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the nuclear power plant:

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Background

In March 2010, Unit 1 of the Tsuruga nuclear power plant was granted a license extension by the local government to operate until 2016 in order to bridge the gap before Units 3 and 4 came online. In March 2015, Japan Atomic Power (JAPC) announced it would decommission Unit 1 of the Tsuruga nuclear power plant. This followed the Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry’s (METI's) Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE) revision of accounting provisions regarding decommissioning costs, made in order to encourage older and smaller units to be permanently shut down.

Unit 2 of the Tsuruga nuclear power plant suspended operation as part of the nationwide reactor shutdown following the 2011 Fukushima disaster. Since December 2012, the NRA has been investigating a fault zone directly below Unit 2 that could be seismically active. In November 2015, JAPC submitted an application to restart the unit, but it is still under review.

Japan Atomic Power first submitted plans for Units 3 and 4 of the Tsuruga nuclear plant to the Nuclear & Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) in 2004. Based on new geological data, JAPC submitted a revised construction application to NISA on October 2009. The approval process was expected to take two years but was passed to the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA). The construction of Units 3 and 4 was planned to start in late 2010 and be commissioned in March 2016. Since the nationwide reactor shutdown in response to the 2011 Fukushima disaster, construction was deferred. Unit 2 was investigated for possible seismic activity, which resulted in denial to restart in November 2024 due to an active fault found beneath the reactor building.

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Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of global nuclear power plants, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Nuclear Power Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.