Japanese operator Tohoku Electric Power announced that it had stopped the second power unit of the Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant in Miyagi Prefecture, which had been restarted on October 29, for an inspection.
The plant was scheduled to start generating electricity on November 3, but the process was not launched due to problems with the equipment. As a result, the plant operator decided to stop the reactor. In the near future, plant specialists will begin an inspection. It has not yet been reported when the second reactor of the Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant may be restarted again.
The second reactor of the Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant, like the power units of the damaged Fukushima-1 Nuclear Power Plant, is a boiling water-moderated reactor. This is the first reactor of this type to be restarted in Japan since 2011.
Before the accident at Fukushima-1, nuclear power plants accounted for about 30% of the energy balance in Japan. As a result of the temporary forced abandonment of nuclear power, the main load in the country fell on thermal power plants. The government now hopes to implement a policy of partial restart of the plant after safety checks. The second reactor of Onagawa became the 13th operating power unit of the nuclear power plant in Japan.