Suspended Miyagi Nuclear Plant to Resume Partial Operations

By Kyodo News International, Tokyo

Dec. 28–SENDAI — An nuclear power plant in Miyagi Prefecture will resume partial operations as early as January after its three reactors shut down automatically after a large earthquake in August, officials at Tohoku Electric Power Co. said Wednesday.

The comments came after Miyagi Gov. Yoshihiro Murai allowed the company to restart operating the No. 2 reactor, one of the suspended three, at the Onagawa nuclear power plant.

Operations of all three nuclear reactors were halted on Aug. 16 when the earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.2 occurred in the Pacific off Miyagi Prefecture.

The tremor was larger than the scale the power plant’s anti-quake design was created to withstand, but the prefecture and the town of Onagawa have accepted the evaluation of the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry that the reactor is safe.

Murai told Hiroaki Takahashi, the utility firm president, to work on improving the quake resistance of power plants, pointing out that there still are local people who oppose the resumption of operations.

Takahashi responded, “We will prepare for a restart while giving safety the utmost priority.” Tohoku Electric Power said it will now also begin to compile reports on the safety of the No. 1 and No. 3 reactors for submission to the ministry so that the ministry can review them.

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