Japan Daily8:53 pm, January 14, 2015 The Yomiuri Shimbun Four power suppliers have decided to decommission five nuclear reactors that began operation about 40 years ago, it has been learned. Kansai Electric Power Co., Chugoku Electric Power Co., Kyushu Electric Power Co. and Japan Atomic Power Co. will announce the decision next month, according to sources. The four suppliers will explain their decommissioning plans at next month’s local assemblies of prefectures and municipalities where the nuclear reactors are located. After obtaining local consent, they will submit their plans to Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yoichi Miyazawa. The decommissioning will be officially decided in April at the earliest, the sources said. In 2013, the central government introduced a regulation that limits the operation of nuclear reactors to 40 years, in principle, following the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in 2011. It will be the first time for electric power companies to announce the decommissioning of its nuclear reactor in line with the regulation. The nuclear reactors are the Nos. 1 and 2 reactors at KEPCO’s Mihama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture; No. 1 reactor at Japan Atomic Power’s Tsuruga plant in Fukui Prefecture; No. 1 reactor at Chugoku Electric’s Shimane plant in Shimane Prefecture and No. 1 reactor at Kyushu Electric’s Genkai plant in Saga Prefecture. All the nuclear reactors began operating more than 40 years ago except for the Genkai nuclear reactor, which began operations 39 year ago. Their power output is relatively small — less than half that of the latest nuclear reactors, making it not worthwhile paying the huge costs it would take to upgrade the reactors to meet the government’s latest safety standards. The decommissioning is expected to incur an average loss of ¥21 billion per reactor. If the power companies soak up the losses at one time, it could have significant adverse effects on their managements. On Wednesday, a task force of the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry decided to come up with a special rule to allow power companies to break up their losses, prompting the four power companies to decide to decommission the five reactors. Meanwhile, Nos. 1 and 2 reactors at KEPCO’s Takahama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture both started operations about 40 years ago. However, as the output of the two reactors is sizable, KEPCO plans to extend their operation periods.Speech .