The company is working to restart the 1,206 megawatt (MW) reactor that has been shut since March 2011 when a huge earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, triggering nuclear meltdowns in Tokyo Electric Power's (9501.T) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station.
The examination for the Shika No.2 reactor has been protracted over the determination of whether there are active faults that run through the site.
But the Nuclear Regulation Authority finally agreed in March this year with Hokuriku's assertion that there was no active fault running under the reactor, a major win for the company to advance the review process.
"Quick restart of the reactor will be a great force for a stable power supply, our financial structure and decarbonisation," President Koji Matsuda told reporters, adding the utility aims to restart the No.2 reactor between January and March in 2026.
"Once we have a clear picture of the No.2 unit, we want to swiftly start application work on the No.1 reactor," he added.
The 540-MW No.1 reactor has been also shut since March 2011.
Japan made a major nuclear power policy shift last year to tackle its energy crisis more than a decade after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster prompted it to suspend all of its reactors at one point.
In another effort to cut its carbon dioxide emissions, Hokuriku which serves Japan's northwestern region, plans to boost the ratio of biomass co-firing - where a part of the fuel is substituted with renewable energy - to 15% from less than 1% now at two of its coal-fired power plants in the fiscal 2024 year, Matsuda said.
