August 30, 2015

Sendai reactor output to achieve 100% capacity 

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150831_05.html

Aug. 30, 2015 - Updated 21:53 UTC+2

The output of Japan's only online nuclear reactor is scheduled to be raised to full capacity on Monday.

Kyushu Electric Power Company, which operates the Sendai plant in southwestern Japan, says after 100-percent output capacity is achieved at the number-one reactor, it will undergo final inspections by the Nuclear Regulation Authority on September 10th.

The reactor was the first to be confirmed by the Authority 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 Sendai reactor.

August 29, 2015

Sendai reactor to resume commercial operations Sept. 10

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201508290037

By JUNICHIRO NAGASAKI/ Staff Writer

SATSUMA-SENDAI, Kagoshima Prefecture--Kyushu Electric Power Co. said Aug. 28 it intends to resume full-scale commercial operations at the Sendai nuclear power plant’s No. 1 reactor on Sept. 10.

The utility said the reactor, which has an output of 890 megawatts, will run at full capacity on Aug. 31 on a trial basis ahead of a final inspection by the Nuclear Regulation Authority, which introduced tougher safety standards in July 2013 in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster two years earlier.

The planned start of commercial operations will herald the end of Kyushu Electric’s two-year effort to resume operations at its Sendai plant.

The utility will begin full-capacity operations of the reactor’s dynamo on Aug. 29, and then run the reactor at full capacity on Aug. 31 while ensuring that its thermal power remains constant.

Final pre-operation checks by the NRA are scheduled for Sept. 9 and 10.

The Sendai No. 1 reactor was brought online on a trial basis on Aug. 11, and began generating and transmitting electricity three days later.

Although Kyushu Electric initially planned to start full trial operations Aug. 25, the schedule was pushed back after it was revealed on Aug. 20 that a small amount of seawater had leaked into a condenser in the reactor's secondary cooling system.

Kyushu Electric quickly repaired the leak, putting it on track to begin business operations in early September as originally planned.

Kyushu Electric expects to resume operations at the Sendai No. 2 reactor by mid-October.