Another Japanese reactor shuts down, leaving only 2 online

Kansai Electric suspended the No. 3 reactor of its Takahama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture for a scheduled checkup.

This leaves only two out of a total 54 commercial reactors operating in Japan.

The two reactors -- the No. 6 reactor at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture and the No. 3 reactor at Hokkaido Electric Power Co.'s Tomari plant in Hokkaido -- will also be suspended on March 26 and in late April, respectively, for routine checkups stipulated for Japanese reactors every 13 months.

As no reactors have resumed operation after going through regular checkups since the Fukushima complex disaster last March, it is highly likely that Japan will have no operating nuclear reactors this spring.

With the Takahama reactor shutdown, Kansai Electric, which has 11 reactors and had produced half of its electricity by nuclear power before the quake-triggered disaster in northeastern Japan, forecasts its supply capacity could fall short of peak demand by 8.8 percent by mid-March under one scenario.

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