Japanese firm wants reactors back online

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TOKYO, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- One of the most nuclear-dependent of Japan's 10 major utility companies says it plans to reactivate two reactors to join two put back online this summer.

Kansai Electric Power Co. has presented a business plan to potential lenders it says will return it to profitability in 2013 if it wins government approval to raise electricity rates in April and it was allowed to fire up two more reactors, Kyodo News reported.

Bringing the reactors online faces a major hurdle as the Japanese government and the Nuclear Regulation Authority haven't outlined a plan for bringing reactors back online after they were shut down in the wake of the Fukushima crisis.

KEPCO did manage to get two of the reactors at its plant in Fukui Prefecture online in July following government-mandated "stress tests" quickly put in place after Fukushima.

The company said it intends to reactivation two units at another power plant the prefecture.

"We would like to hold discussions with the government with the view to giving top priority to reactivating them," KEPCO President Makoto Yagi said.

KEPCO operates 11 reactors, all in Fukui Prefecture, and 51 percent of its power supply came from nuclear sources before the March 2011 Fukushima crisis.