Sendai No.1 off line for inspection

October 6, 2016

Sendai No.1reactor undergoing regular inspection

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20161006_17/

The first nuclear reactor restarted under new post-Fukushima government regulations has been taken off line for regular inspections.

The Sendai No.1 reactor in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, was fully halted on Thursday morning.

Kyushu Electric Power Company, its operator, plans to inspect 124 points. In addition to examining the reactor, workers will conduct safety checks on mobile power generators and a device to prevent hydrogen explosions inside the reactor containment vessel. Both were introduced following the 2011 Fukushima accident.

Inspections will continue through January 6th. Kyushu Electric plans to restart the reactor around December 8th and resume power generation 3 days later.

Kagoshima Governor Satoshi Mitazono had earlier asked Kyushu Electric to cease operation at the plant for safety checks.

The utility rejected the request, but began special inspections last week to see if emergency power generators and other equipment are properly functioning.

Kyushu Electric begins scheduled checkup of nuclear reactor

http://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20161006/p2g/00m/0dm/056000c

The No. 1 and No. 2 reactors are seen at the Sendai nuclear power plant in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture, in this photo taken from a Mainichi helicopter. (Mainichi)

FUKUOKA (Kyodo) -- Kyushu Electric Power Co. on Thursday started a scheduled three month-long inspection of a reactor at its Sendai Nuclear Power Station in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Kagoshima.

The checkup requires suspending the reactor's operation and leaves only two reactors active in Japan -- the No. 2 reactor at the Sendai plant and the No. 3 reactor at Shikoku Electric Power Co.'s Ikata plant in western Japan. The Sendai No. 2 reactor is also scheduled to be suspended for regular checks from Dec. 16 to Feb. 27.

The Sendai complex's No. 1 reactor is the first unit to undergo regular checks after passing tougher safety criteria introduced in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear crisis triggered by the massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

Kyushu Electric said it started gradually moderating the No. 1 reactor Wednesday evening by inserting rods to control nuclear fission. The inspection started early Thursday morning after the reactor ended power generation and was cut off from the transmission unit.

The inspection covers 124 items, including 16 to be newly conducted under the new safety criteria, such as checking apparatus to prevent hydrogen explosions.

Kyushu Electric has already launched special checks at the Sendai plant, after Kagoshima Gov. Satoshi Mitazono demanded the plant be halted following powerful earthquakes in Kyushu in April. The special checks will be conducted along with the regular checks.