August 31, 2015

Kyushu nuclear plant reaches full output capacity, commercial operations expected in Sept.

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150831p2a00m0na013000c.html

Kyushu Electric Power Co. said that the No. 1 reactor at the Sendai Nuclear Power Plant in Kagoshima Prefecture has achieved its full capacity, in which the heat output generated in the reactor is maintained at its maximum level.

The Sendai plant's No. 1 reactor is expected to undergo a final inspection by the Nuclear Regulation Authority on Sept. 9 and 10. If passed, Kyushu Electric will resume commercial operations of the nuclear plant.

The utility decided to postpone raising power output on Aug. 21 following a problem at the reactor, where seawater entered into a condenser, but began boosting output power six days later after blocking holes in pipes.

Kyushu Electric resumed the No. 1 reactor's power generation and transmission on Aug. 14 after restarting the Sendai plant on Aug. 11 as the first nuclear station in Japan to restart its operation under new safety standards. The company has been careful in raising output power since the No. 1 reactor had been off power for about four years and three months. Now that the reactor is maintaining its maximum output capacity, the utility expects less likelihood of problems in its operations.

The electric company plans to restart the No. 2 reactor at the Sendai plant in mid-October after inserting nuclear fuel in early September.

Sendai reactor output achieves 100% capacity

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150831_16.html

Aug. 31, 2015 - Updated 05:05 UTC+2

The output of Japan's only online nuclear reactor has been raised to full capacity.

Kyushu Electric Power Company, which operates the Sendai plant in southwestern Japan, said that the number-one reactor reached 100-percent output on Monday morning. It says that it will undergo final inspections by the Nuclear Regulation Authority on September 10th.

The reactor was the first to have met new safety guidelines that were introduced following the 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The utility restarted the reactor on August 11th.

The company continued test operations while gradually increasing its output and checking whether the equipment was working properly.

The company was forced to temporarily stop increasing the output after a problem was found with one of the reactor's condensers. The work resumed last Thursday.

The nuclear authority will now check the water, temperatures and pressures in the reactor while it is in full operation.

The utility says if all goes well, it will resume full commercial operations. The reactor will become the first in the country to resume such operations since the Ohi plant in central Japan went offline in 2013.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority says it will carefully conduct final inspections of the reactor.