Japanese utility Kansai Electric Power Company said Friday that it would cost too much to upgrade two units at the Oi nuclear power plant in central Japan and that the company had elected to decommission the two reactors, instead.
The price tag for upgrades the two reactors, Oi units 1 and 2, would require to meet post-Fukushima Daiichi safety standards was estimated at $7.3 billion.
“We dedided to decommission, as we are prioritizing safety and quality in future operations, after we were unable to find an effective technological solution (to emergencies,” the company said in a statement.
OI Units 1 and 2, both 1,175 MW pressurized water reactors, were first commissioned in March and December of 1979, respectively. The company expects to initiate decommissioning in 2019.