Utility restarts reactor in west Japan under post-Fukushima rules

The No. 3 reactor at the plant in Ehime Prefecture is the only restarted unit in Japan that runs on uranium-plutonium mixed oxide, or MOX, fuel, as a court ordered Kansai Electric Power Co. in March to suspend two reactors at its Takahama plant after they resumed operations earlier this year, citing safety concerns.

MOX fuel, created from plutonium and uranium extracted from spent fuel, is a key component of the nuclear fuel recycle program pursued by the nuclear power industry and the government.

The government aims to bring more reactors back online after the Fukushima crisis led to a nationwide halt of nuclear plants, as it plans to have nuclear power account for 20 to 22 percent of the country's total electricity supply in 2030 to cut greenhouse emissions and lower imported fuel costs.

The Ikata unit is expected to reach criticality, or a state of sustained nuclear chain reaction, on Saturday and begin generating and transmitting electricity on Monday before resuming commercial operation in early September for the first time since it was halted in April 2011 for regular inspection.

"We will take steps toward criticality and resumption of power generation with priority on ensuring safety," Shikoku Electric President Hayato Saeki said in a statement on Friday.

Meanwhile, around 70 residents and others opposed to the reactor restart gathered around the coastal plant early Friday morning, chanting slogans such as "Don't contaminate the Seto Inland Sea" and "Stop the nuclear plant."

Junko Saima, a 72-year-old woman from Yawatahama, adjacent to the town hosting the plant, which is located on one side of a narrow peninsula, said, "I am nervous that some kind of accident may occur."

Opponents are concerned about the effectiveness of government-prepared evacuation plans in case of an accident and about potential major earthquakes that are not taken into account in the plans, while proponents are hailing the resumption as it could bring economic benefits.

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko said in a statement that the restart of the reactor marked "an important step toward achieving a balanced power mix and further ensuring stable supply of electricity."

Ehime Gov. Tokihiro Nakamura told a press conference that the greatest safety measures possible are in place. "What happened in Fukushima would not happen here."

The restart follows the reactivation of two reactors at Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s Sendai plant in Kagoshima Prefecture last year and the brief operation of the Nos. 3 and 4 units at Kansai Electric's Takahama complex in Fukui Prefecture.

The mayor of Ikata town and the governor of Ehime Prefecture had already given their consent for the restart of the No. 3 reactor after regulators approved its restart in July last year.

In June, Shikoku Electric loaded nuclear fuel at the power plant eyeing to reboot it on July 26. However, reactivation was postponed due to problems with the reactor's cooling system.

A group of local residents filed a suit in May seeking an injunction to halt the restart arguing that a series of earthquakes that hit the neighboring main island of Kyushu in April could trigger quakes along the median tectonic line running close to the Ikata reactor.

The plant is about 170 kilometers east of Kumamoto Prefecture, the epicenter of the quakes.

Meanwhile, in Kagoshima, new Gov. Satoshi Mitazono is planning to ask Kyushu Electric to suspend the two reactivated reactors at the Sendai plant to double-check any safety impact on the units from the earthquakes that hit neighboring Kumamoto in April.

Source: Kyodo