From 2012 to 2016, the plant was shut down most of the time, with only reactor 3 briefly in operation, due to technical problems and opposition from the local residents.

[4] As of 16 April 2015, the Takahama reactors were ordered to remain offline by a Japanese court, which cited continued safety concerns.

The Fukui District Court rejected a "stay" on its original ruling that, despite approval to restart the plants from Japan's governmental Nuclear Regulation Authority (an agency formed in 2012,) approval guidelines issued by the agency were "lacking in rationality" and "too loose."

Judges are not experts on nuclear power plants, so it is imperative that they humbly pay attention to scientific knowledge.

[citation needed] However, on 29 February 2016, after three days of operation, the unit was shut down one second after it started generating power.

[10] On 20 June 2016, Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), approved a 20-year license extensions for units 1 and 2.