Restart of Oi No.3 reactor on Sunday

June 29, 2012

Ohi nuclear power plant to restart on Sunday

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20120629_34.html

Kansai Electric Power Company, the operator of the Ohi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture, will restart the No.3 reactor on Sunday night for the first time in 15 months.

The company has been cleaning cooling water pipes, checking for water leaks and making other preparations. The government decided on the resumption on June 16th.

The reactor will be resumed at 9 PM on Sunday in the presence of senior vice industry minister Seishu Makino.

This will be the first reactor to be restarted since the earthquake and tsunami in March of last year.

It will reach the critical stage on Monday morning. This is where a self-sustaining chain reaction of nuclear fission is established.

The reactor is expected to start generating power 2 days later. It will then take 4 more days to operate at full capacity.

The utility also plans to restart the No.4 reactor on July 17th and it will reach full capacity a week later.

The 2 reactors have been undergoing strict around-the-clock monitoring since June 16th by plant workers and officials of the national and prefectural governments.

An interruption in the power grid monitoring signal, an accidental switch-off of the power source for monitoring instruments and six other minor problems have taken place.