TEPCO Postpones Restart of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa N-Reactor

Niigata, Jan. 19 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said Monday that it has postponed the restart scheduled for Tuesday of the No. 6 reactor at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata Prefecture, central Japan. The delay came after a problem was confirmed during a test on Saturday to remove control rods that suppress nuclear fission reactions in the reactor. TEPCO did not disclose when it will restart the reactor now, but officials said that it would take one or two days to complete remaining necessary preparations. The company found that an alarm designed to prevent unintended withdrawals did not become active during the test. An investigation revealed an error in the pullout prevention function settings. After correcting the settings, the problem was resolved at 8:16 p.m. Sunday. Later, the company checked whether the alarm was functioning properly for all control rods. TEPCO initially planned to remove the control rods Tuesday, raise the pressure in the reactor for two days, and start power generation and transmission Jan. 27. The plan included stopping the reactor once to check for abnormalities, restarting it, conducting a final inspection on Feb. 26, and then shifting to commercial operations. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]