Shimane nuclear power plant
Shimane nuclear power plant is a nuclear power station in Japan with 1 operating unit totalling 820 MW gross. The site has 3 units on record in total.
Units
| Unit | Status | Type | Model | Gross MW | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 2 | BWR | BWR-5 | 820 | 2024 | |
| Unit 3 | Under construction | BWR | ABWR | 1,373 | - |
| Unit 1 | Retired | BWR | BWR-3 | 460 | 1974 |
Unit by unit
Each unit's rating, type and milestone dates as recorded by the Global Nuclear Power Tracker, with any correction we made to it. A dash or "not disclosed" means the source does not give the value.
Shimane nuclear power plant 2
| Reactor type | Boiling water reactor (BWR) |
|---|---|
| Model | BWR-5 |
| Size class | Large |
| Gross capacity | 820MW |
| Net capacity | 789MW |
| Thermal output | 2,436MWt |
| Enrichment | 3–5% U-235 |
| NSSS vendor | GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy |
| Owner | The Chugoku Electric Power Co Inc100% |
| Operator | The Chugoku Electric Power |
| Construction start | 2 Feb 1985 |
|---|---|
| First criticality | 25 May 1988 |
| Grid connection | 11 Jul 1988 |
| Commercial operation | 1 Jan 2024 |
Shimane nuclear power plant 3 Under construction
| Reactor type | Boiling water reactor (BWR) |
|---|---|
| Model | ABWR |
| Size class | Large |
| Gross capacity | 1,373MW |
| Net capacity | 1,325MW |
| Thermal output | 3,926MWt |
| Enrichment | 3–5% U-235 |
| NSSS vendor | GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy |
| Owner | The Chugoku Electric Power Co Inc100% |
| Operator | The Chugoku Electric Power |
| Construction start | 24 Oct 2006 |
|---|
Shimane nuclear power plant 1 Retired
| Reactor type | Boiling water reactor (BWR) |
|---|---|
| Model | BWR-3 |
| Size class | Large |
| Gross capacity | 460MW |
| Net capacity | 439MW |
| Thermal output | 1,380MWt |
| Enrichment | 3–5% U-235 |
| NSSS vendor | GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy |
| Owner | The Chugoku Electric Power Co Inc100% |
| Operator | The Chugoku Electric Power |
| Construction start | 2 Jul 1970 |
|---|---|
| First criticality | 1 Jun 1973 |
| Grid connection | 2 Dec 1973 |
| Commercial operation | 29 Mar 1974 |
| Permanent shutdown | 30 Apr 2015 |
Shimane nuclear power plant in context
By gross operating capacity Shimane nuclear power plant is the 9th largest of 9 operating nuclear sites in Japan, holding 6% of the country's operating capacity, and ranks 158th of 172 worldwide.
Its operating unit started up in 2024; the unit is 2.0 years old, younger than the median of 35.0 in Japan.
The 2 units with both construction and grid dates on record took 3.4 to 3.4 years (median 3.4) from construction start to grid connection; the median across all reactors connected in the 1980s is 7.3 years.
The nearest other tracked nuclear sites are Takahama nuclear power plant (227 km), Ikata nuclear power plant (236 km) and Ohi nuclear power plant (240 km).
Build time by unit
| Unit | Construction start | Grid connection | Years | Fleet median, same decade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | 1970 | 1973 | 3.4 | 5.4 (1970s) |
| Unit 2 | 1985 | 1988 | 3.4 | 7.3 (1980s) |
Nearest tracked nuclear sites
| Site | Country | Distance | Operating GW gross |
|---|---|---|---|
| Takahama nuclear power plant | Japan | 227 km | 3.4 |
| Ikata nuclear power plant | Japan | 236 km | 0.9 |
| Ohi nuclear power plant | Japan | 240 km | 2.4 |
How these are worked out: ranks use gross operating capacity; ages count from the start-up year on record, as on the age page; build times run from construction start to grid connection, as on the build-times page; ratings are the tracker's net and design net capacity, as on the uprates page. Distances are straight-line between exact positions, so a site with only an approximate position gets none. A unit missing a date or a rating is left out of the figure that needs it.
Earthquakes nearby
Loading the latest USGS check…
| Time (UTC) | Mag | Depth | Epicentre | Distance |
|---|
Magnitude 4.0 and above within 200 km of Shimane nuclear power plant's listed coordinates, past 30 days. This is distance, not shaking: it says nothing about damage or any change in operation. Every plant.
| Location | Matsue, Shimane, Japan |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 35.5383, 132.9992 |
| Elevation | about 25 mabove sea level |
| Setting | On the sea coast, 0.5 km from the water |
| Region | Eastern Asia |
| Units by status | Operating: 1 Under construction: 1 Retired: 1 |
Elevation is read at the listed coordinates from a 30 m terrain model (SRTM 30 m). Two independent models differ by a median of 6 m across our plants and by up to about 40 m on steep or coastal ground, and a point on a shoreline can read as sea level. Distance to the water is measured to a generalised 1:10 million coastline, so a few kilometres or less is not resolved. This is context, not a design-basis or flood-risk figure.
| Owners | The Chugoku Electric Power Co Inc |
|---|---|
| Operators | The Chugoku Electric Power |
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Sources
- Global Nuclear Power Tracker, Global Energy Monitor, August 2026 release , CC BY 4.0 · retrieved 2026-09-06
- GEM.wiki entry (further reading) , CC BY-SA 4.0, linked, not quoted
How these sources are used, including the corrections applied on top of them and what is deliberately left blank · download the underlying data