Takahama restarted

May 17, 2017

Takahama nuclear reactor restarted

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20170517_28/

One of the reactors at Takahama nuclear plant in the central Japanese prefecture of Fukui has been restarted for the first time in 15 months.

Plant workers began pulling control rods out of the No.4 reactor at 5 PM on Wednesday.

It runs on MOX fuel, which is a mixture of plutonium extracted from spent nuclear fuel and uranium.

The reactor is to reach criticality, a self-sustained nuclear reaction, in about 13 hours by around 6 AM on Thursday. The operator, Kansai Electric Power Company, plans to start power generation and transmission to the grid on Monday next week.

The power utility plans to resume commercial operations with the reactor in mid-June.

Wednesday's restart brought the number of reactors operating in Japan to 4, including 2 reactors at Sendai plant in Kagoshima Prefecture and one at Ikata plant in Ehime Prefecture.

Takahama's No.4 reactor was reactivated in February of last year, but shut down automatically due to a glitch that occurred 3 days after the restart.

A district court later issued an injunction that suspended operations of the No.4 and No.3 reactors of the Takahama plant, but the Osaka High Court nullified the injunction in March this year.

Controversial Reactor Restarted

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/nhknewsline/nuclearwatch/controversialreactorrestarted/

A controversial nuclear reactor in central Japan has been restarted. A local court had previously banned its operation.

The Kansai Electric Power Company has put the No.4 reactor at its Takahama plant back online.

The facility passed stricter regulations, introduced after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.

The reactor runs on what's called MOX fuel. It's created by reprocessing spent fuel from nuclear reactors.

Last year, a district court ordered a suspension of operations. It said Kansai Electric hadn't given sufficient explanation of how it would deal with or prevent accidents.

But in March, a higher court overturned the decision. It said that the company had introduced the necessary measures against earthquakes and tsunamis.

The utility says it wants to resume commercial operations next month. At the moment Japan has 3 other reactors online.

May 17, 2017

Takahama reactor to restart on Wednesd

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20170517_16/

The operator of the Takahama nuclear power plant in central Japan will soon restart its No.4 reactor for the first time in 15 months.

Kansai Electric Power Company says it will start removing the control rods from the reactor at around 5 PM on Wednesday, if no problems are found in the final inspection on the rods for containing nuclear fission.

The power utility began the process of restarting No.3 and No. 4 reactors at the plant in Fukui Prefecture after the Osaka High Court scrapped, in March, an injunction by a lower court that ordered their suspension.

The No. 4 reactor has been offline since February last year, when it shut down automatically due to a glitch.

If the process goes as scheduled, the No. 4 reactor is to reach criticality by Thursday morning, and start power generation and transmission to the grid on Monday next week.

Kansai Electric plans to resume commercial operations with the reactor in mid-June.

The reactor uses MOX fuel, which is a mixture of plutonium extracted from spent nuclear fuel and uranium.

It is the 4th reactor to go online, after 2 reactors at Sendai nuclear plant in Kagoshima Prefecture, and one at Ikata nuclear plant in Ehime Prefecture.

Kansai Electric also plans to restart the No.3 reactor in early June.

May 14, 2017