Mid-July start for Sendai plant, says Kepco

April 23, 2015

Utility plans mid-July restart of Sendai reactor

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150423_20.html

Apr. 23, 2015 - Updated 06:50 UTC+2

Kyushu Electric Power Company says it will push back the planned restart of a reactor at its Sendai nuclear plant due to a delay in onsite inspections.

This move follows the dismissal by a district court on Wednesday of a request by local residents to block the restart of 2 reactors at the plant.

At a meeting with the Nuclear Regulation Authority on Thursday, the utility submitted a plan to restart the No.1 reactor at the plant in Kagoshima Prefecture in mid-July. It had been aiming for early July.

Nuclear regulators are currently conducting inspections at the plant in southwestern Japan.

Kyushu Electric officials told the regulators that they do not have all the necessary documentation ready and that has delayed the inspections.

Under the revised plan, the utility will start loading nuclear fuel into the reactor by mid-June. It plans to pull out control rods in mid-July to put the reactor back online.

But nuclear regulators said Kyushu electric's schedule seems unrealistic. The utility said it will reconsider the plan, which may result in a further delay of the restart.

Reactors 1 and 2 at the plant became the first in Japan to clear new regulations introduced after the 2011 Fukushima accident.