Shikoku Electric Power Co. decided Tuesday to scrap the aging reactor 2 at its Ikata plant in Ehime Prefecture because the required safety investments would make it too expensive to keep in service.

The reactor will be the ninth that nuclear plant operators across Japan have decided to scrap following the 2011 nuclear crisis, excluding those at the disaster-hit Fukushima No .1 complex.

Japan currently has around 40 commercial reactors.