Japan's nuclear regulator, the Nuclear Regulation Authority, has granted a license extension to the Mihama Unit 3 reactor run by Kansai Electric, which allows it to operate for a 60-year span, which would end in 2036. It is the third Japanese reactor to be given a license extension. The first two were granted to two Takahama facility reactors.
All three of the extensions were granted to reactors in the Fukui Prefecture, which is roughly parallel to Tokyo, but on the western side of Japan, facing the Sea of Japan.
Unit 3 at the Mihama plant began commercial operation in December 1976, but it has been closed down since May 2011, two months after the 9.0 magnitude Great East Japan Earthquake, which triggered the tsunami responsible for the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster. Unit 3 was shut down for scheduled servicing, but it has remained shut down ever since, as the industry in Japan faced a lengthy moratorium and new post-earthquake regulations.
Even with the extended license, the unit is not expected to be put back into service for another three years. The restart is tentatively scheduled for 2020. Kansai Electric is expected to upgrade the unit before the restart with $1.5 billion budgeted for improvements.