SATSUMA-SENDAI, Kagoshima Prefecture--Workers at the Sendai nuclear power plant here have loaded nearly half of the nuclear fuel into a reactor that is expected to resume operations in mid-August.
SATSUMA-SENDAI, Kagoshima Prefecture--Workers at the Sendai nuclear power plant here have loaded nearly half of the nuclear fuel into a reactor that is expected to resume operations in mid-August.
The process to install 157 bundles of nuclear fuel rods into the plant’s No. 1 reactor started at 1:39 p.m. on July 7. The plant operator, Kyushu Electric Power Co., said 61 bundles, or nearly 40 percent of total, had been loaded as of 4 p.m. on July 8.
“It is a focal step in our effort to restart the reactor, and we are determined to proceed gradually and carefully with the operation,” said Satoru Kojo, director of the plant’s general management office.
The utility plans to complete the operation by July 10. If the reactor passes final safety screenings, it will be the first to resume operations under stricter safety regulations that were introduced following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011.
About 50 workers are engaged in the round-the-clock operation.
Around 2:30 p.m. on July 8, workers using a crane meticulously inserted the 57th bundle of fuel rods into the reactor vessel. Media reporters were allowed to observe the process, which took place underwater to contain radiation from the rods.
The bundles are 4.1 meters tall, 21 centimeters wide on each side, and weigh 700 kilograms. They each hold 264 fuel rods.
Kyushu Electric also showed the operation to move the bundles one by one from a storage pool in a building adjoining to the No. 1 reactor building.
The fuel was hoisted by another crane, inserted in a rod-shaped container and transferred to the reactor building through a tube, which was also placed under water. The alignment of the bundles for the reactor is predetermined, so each batch is identified with letters based on their layout in the storage pool.
The distance between the storage pool and reactor is about 50 meters. It takes workers about 20 minutes to install a single batch.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority, the country’s nuclear watchdog, is conducting the remaining stages of facility inspections to determine if the reactor can be actually restarted. The safety checks will continue even after all the fuel is installed in the reactor.
If the NRA gives the green light, Kyushu Electric will remove the control rods from the reactor in mid-August to restart the plant.