Ready for another restart?

September 4, 2015

Plant operator to reactivate another reactor

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

Sep. 4, 2015 - Updated 11:24 UTC+2

The operator of Japan's only active nuclear power station plans to prepare to restart a second reactor at the plant.

Kyushu Electric Power Company on Friday told the Nuclear Regulation Authority, or NRA, of its plan to start putting fuel rods into the Number 2 reactor of the Sendai plant in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima on September 11th.

The company says loading the 157 units of fuel rods into the facility will take 4 days.

NRA officials are to then inspect emergency equipment and procedures for handling severe accidents. If no problems are found, the utility plans to reactivate the reactor in mid-October, aiming at starting commercial operations in mid-November.

The firm restarted the plant's Number 1 reactor on August 11th. The reactor is to undergo final checks by the NRA next Thursday and, if it passes them, become the first in Japan to supply electricity in 2 years.

The 2 reactors are the first to meet regulations introduced after the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in 2011.