Mihama Nuclear Power Plant Goes Back Online
An aging Japanese nuclear power reactor has been restarted.
Mihama nuclear power plant is located in Fukui Prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast. The plant's No.3 reactor went back online at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday. The reactor was first put into operation 44 years ago.
Kansai Electric Power Company is the plant's operator. Company officials operated a panel in the central control room on Wednesday and began removing control rods inside the reactor.
The reactor is the first among those in Japan over 40 years old to be restarted since the 2011 nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
Since the 2011 accident, the operation of nuclear power reactors has been limited by law to 40 years in principle. But an exception can be made. A reactor can have its operational life extended to a maximum of 60 years, if it passes a screening by the Nuclear Regulation Authority.
The reactor at the Mihama plant passed the screening in 2016. Preparations for its restart have been underway since April, when the host prefecture gave its approval.
Kansai Electric Power said that, if everything goes well, the reactor will achieve a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction early on Thursday. It hopes to begin sending electricity as early as next Tuesday.
The reactor has been offline for the past 10 years. The operator has deployed double the usual number of workers at the plant for the restart.
The host prefecture and the municipality have also sent officials to monitor the situation.