NRA to inspect Sendai plant

March 29, 2015

Nuclear regulators to inspect reactor for restart

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

Mar. 29, 2015 - Updated 19:16 UTC+2

Nuclear regulators will begin examining a reactor at a power plant in southwestern Japan on Monday to determine whether its operations can be restarted.

Officials with the Secretariat of the Nuclear Regulation Authority will oversee inspections of facilities at the No.1 reactor at the Sendai plant in Satsuma-Sendai city.

All commercial reactors in the country are currently offline. Last September, two reactors at the plant became the first to clear new, tougher regulations introduced after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident.

The NRA will determine whether the new facilities and equipment have been installed as planned and can function properly.

The new regulations require about 500 items to withstand severe nuclear accidents.

Inspectors will also check for any deterioration of conventional equipment as the No.1 reactor has been offline for nearly 4 years.

Kyushu Electric Power Company is the plant's operator. It wants to start loading nuclear fuel into the reactor in early June for a restart in early July.

But the schedule depends on the pre-start inspections.