Nuclear Watch: Loading for Restart

Loading for Nuclear Restart

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclearwatch/20150707.html

Moves are underway towards a restart at a nuclear power plant in southwest Japan. Workers at Kyushu Electric Power Company's Sendai plant have been loading fuel into one of its reactors. The plant will be the first to restart since the government introduced new regulations after the 2011 Fukushima disaster.

Utility officials say workers are using cranes to transfer more than 150 fuel-rod units into the plant's Number 1 reactor, which has been without fuel for about 2 1 / 2 years. The fuel is being stored in a pool next to the building that houses the reactor.

Workers will spend four days transferring the individual units, on a shift rotation so the operation can continue around the clock. The fuel will be kept underwater to contain radiation.

Utility officials plan to restart the reactor following safety checks in about a month.

"The government plans to push forward with restarting nuclear plants that have satisfied the new guidelines in screenings by the Nuclear Regulation Authority. My feeling is that we've finally come this far toward the first restart under the new restrictions," says Japanese Industry Minister Yoichi Miyazawa.

The Sendai plant is the first to meet the government's new requirements. All of Japan's nuclear reactors are currently offline.

The developments at the Sendai plant have drawn opposition from residents and anti-nuclear activists. A group of protesters gathered outside the plant to voice opposition.

About 100 demonstrators took part in the rally. Some of them held signs that warned the fuel-loading is the first step toward an accident. One participant says what occurred in Fukushima could be repeated at the Sendai plant. "We can't just put aside the intense anger we feel. We urge the utility to stop the work immediately and give up on the restart," says anti-nuclear activist Ryoko Torihara.

The protesters criticized officials at Kyushu Electric for being callous. They accuse the utility of ignoring the public's desire for a nuclear-free society.