Kyushu Electric Power Co. will begin loading nuclear fuel into a reactor at the Sendai nuclear power plant in Kagoshima Prefecture on July 7 ahead of its planned restart in August.
Kyushu Electric Power Co. will begin loading nuclear fuel into a reactor at the Sendai nuclear power plant in Kagoshima Prefecture on July 7 ahead of its planned restart in August.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority gave the plant operator the green light to start loading the fuel into the No. 1 reactor after the nuclear watchdog inspected the plant’s equipment on July 3.
The reactor is planned to be restarted in mid-August after Kyushu Electric undergoes a month-long preparation.
The latest inspection was a part of the “pre-operation tests” to confirm that safety equipment is properly installed and can function at the plant to meet the NRA’s new safety standard. The NRA determined July 3 that fuel can be properly loaded into the reactor in the light of the new regulation.
Before the reactor restart, the NRA will proceed with the remaining stages of pre-operation inspections to determine if the reactor can be actually restarted and conduct "security checks" on operational procedures.
During the fuel installation, Kyushu Electric workers will move bundles of nuclear fuel rods from a storage pool adjoining the reactor building into the reactor one by one. It will take about four days to load all 157 fuel rod bundles into the reactor, Kyushu Electric officials said.