Japan's Onagawa No. 2 reactor halted for inspection
Tohoku Electric Power Co. said Saturday that it has halted the No. 2 reactor at its Onagawa nuclear power plant in the northeastern Japan prefecture of Miyagi for inspection, following the detection of a trace of radioactive steam, Jiji Press.
The reactor was brought to a cold shutdown at around 2:50 p.m. on Saturday. There is no impact on the external environment, according to the company.
At around 5:10 p.m. on Friday, a patrolling worker confirmed that the steam was leaking out from a sump collecting wastewater from equipment in the basement of the reactor's turbine building. The steam did not stop even after the valve connected to the sump was retightened.
The level of radioactivity in the water accumulated on the surrounding floor was about one-thousandth of the government's reporting threshold.
The No. 2 reactor, which had been stopped for a periodic inspection, was restarted on Monday. It resumed power generation late Thursday night and was scheduled to start commercial operation in early June.
Earlier, Qazinform reported a steam leak prompts the shutdown of a nuclear reactor in central Japan.