A hole approximately 1 cm in diameter was found in the No. 3 reactor piping system at the Genkai nuclear power plant, which is located in Saga Prefecture. The reactor went back online on March 23 after a seven-year, three-month suspension. However, Kyushu Electric Power (Kyuden) has since discovered steam coming from a pipe in the secondary cooling system. The area of the plant in question removes trace levels of oxygen and other gases from water, but does not contain any radioactive substances. No harmful materials leaked as a result of the accident and no damage was done to the surrounding environment. Kyuden put a halt to power generation on March 31 and is investigating what caused the hole. The company has not confirmed if they will resume operations on the reactor. Plans were initially in place to resume commercial operations for the No. 3 reactor at the end of April and then restart No. 4 in May. There might now be delays to this schedule. Source: Saga Shimbun, 4/1/2018
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Disclaimer: Fukuoka Now posts summaries of Kyushu area related news for the benefit of those who cannot read Japanese. Contents posted here are mostly summaries of publicly posted news stories from Japanese media organizations. Errors might occur during translation. Those errors are ours, and not the news source’s. Photos and images are sourced separately and are for illustrative purposes only. Please use this form to send feedback and questions.
