Takahama: Nuclear fuel loaded

May 1, 2017

Nuclear fuel loaded into reactor at Takahama plant

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20170501_15/

Workers have finished loading nuclear fuel into a reactor at the Takahama power plant in central Japan.

Kansai Electric Power Company says work to place all 157 units of nuclear fuel into the No. 4 reactor was completed on Monday morning with no problems. The fuel includes 4 units of MOX fuel, a mixture of plutonium extracted from spent nuclear fuel and uranium.

In March, the Osaka High Court scrapped an injunction issued by a lower court a year earlier that suspended operations of the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at the plant in Fukui Prefecture.

Kansai Electric plans to restart the No. 4 reactor in mid-May if operations such as raising the temperature and pressure inside the reactor and conducting checks go without a hitch.

The utility says workers at the plant will use extra caution when performing the tasks.

In February of last year, radioactive cooling water leaked from the reactor during preparations for a restart. 3 days after being put back online, the reactor automatically shut down as workers were trying to generate power and send it to the grid.

The plant operator says it will begin putting nuclear fuel into the No. 3 reactor in mid-May and restart it in early June.