Japanese lawmakers on Wednesday passed a bill to grant mandate to the country鈥檚 nuclear reactors to run beyond 60 years of their operations.
The move is aimed at 鈥渃utting carbon emissions while ensuring an adequate national energy supply,鈥� Tokyo-based Kyodo News reported.
Tokyo has committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 besides reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 46% by 2030.
After the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, Japan had implemented stricter regulations which limited operations of a nuclear reactor to 40 years but could be extended to 60 years after proper review.
鈥淭he law on power sources for green transformation and decarbonization amends five laws associated with energy at once, including the electricity business law, under which the life span of reactors will be regulated,鈥� the report said.
When the bill is enacted as law, Japan鈥檚 鈥渘uclear reactors may be granted additional operating years in effect as their offline periods will not be counted against their total service time provided the periods are due to reasons beyond a utility's control, such as safety reviews needed for a restart and court-ordered suspensions.鈥�
Approval of extension in operations time period will be granted by Japan鈥檚 industry minister.
The revised rules mandate Japan鈥檚 Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) to review conditions of the reactors every 10 years after they attain an age of 30 years in operations.
鈥淭hese (old) reactors will not become operable unless they pass the NRA鈥檚 reviews within every 10 years and obtain approvals,鈥� Japan鈥檚 Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura had said a day earlier.
By Riyaz ul Khaliq
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr