Here we go again

July 18, 2012

Ohi plant restarts second reactor

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20120718_34.html

Kansai Electric Power Company has restarted another reactor at its Ohi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture, central Japan.

The utility started lifting control rods at the No.4 reactor at 9 PM on Wednesday in the presence of senior vice industry minister Seishu Makino.

Kansai Electric says that if things go as planned, chain reactions will begin on Thursday morning. It adds that the reactor will start generating power as early as Saturday and begin operating at full capacity next Wednesday.

The plant on the Sea of Japan coast is the only one operating in the country. The facility's No.3 reactor began full operation on July 9th.

Nuclear power generation resumed ahead of possible power shortages in the country this summer.

The government plans to remove the power-saving targets allocated to Chubu Electric, Hokuriku Electric, and Chugoku Electric when the No.4 reactor generates at full capacity.

Another reactor at Oi power plant to be reactivated Wednesday

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20120718p2g00m0dm042000c.html

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The No. 4 reactor at the Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture is due to be reactivated Wednesday night, becoming the second reactor to resume operation after regular checks since last year's Fukushima nuclear crisis.

The 1.18 million kilowatt No. 4 reactor is scheduled to begin power transmission on Saturday and commence full operation on July 25, further easing power constraints in western Japan.

Kansai Electric Power Co., the operator of the plant, reactivated the No. 3 reactor on July 1 and brought it to full operation on July 9, prompting the government to lower summer power-saving targets imposed for the service areas of four power suppliers in western Japan.

When the No. 4 reactor begins full operation, the government plans to remove power-saving targets for Chubu Electric Power, Hokuriku Electric Power and Chugoku Electric Power companies, while further easing the target for Shikoku Electric Power Co. from 7 percent to 5 percent. However, it intends to maintain the 10 percent target -- recently reduced from 15 percent -- for Kansai Electric.

The No. 4 reactor was idled on July 22 last year for regular checks. As in the case of the No. 3 reactor, Senior Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Seishu Makino will witness the No. 4 reactor's reactivation as part of the government's efforts to enhance monitoring of the plant's resumption amid public concern over nuclear safety in the wake of the meltdown of three reactors at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Daiichi plant.

Meanwhile, investigations into fault fracture zones, or soft earth layers, running under the Oi plant appear unavoidable as many members of an expert panel of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency pointed to the risk posed by them at a meeting the same day.

Experts, including Toyo University professor Mitsuhisa Watanabe, said in June that the zones could move the surface of the ground by acting together with nearby active faults.

"We will immediately study countermeasures as experts' views are extremely important," an agency official said.

But Kansai Electric was more reserved, with an official saying, "We will make studies based on (experts') views."

Given the developments related to the plant's safety, some residents of the town of Oi in Fukui Prefecture seem puzzled by the moves to restart the facility's reactors.

A local man who runs a company said, "When building a nuclear power plant there, it must have been determined after consultations with experts that there was no problem. It is difficult to understand why they are saying now that a reinvestigation is necessary."

Members of the nuclear safety agency panel also called for investigations into Hokuriku Electric Power Co.'s Shika plant in Ishikawa Prefecture due to the possibility of active faults under the plant's No. 1 reactor unit.

In a related development, a group of residents of Kyoto and Shiga prefectures presented the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry with around 23,000 signatures calling for the government to rescind its decision to allow the Nos. 3 and 4 reactors at the Oi plant to resume operation.

Before the reactivation of the No. 3 reactor, a group of protestors blocked a road leading to the plant, prompting local police to forcibly remove them.