TOKYO: A Japanese nuclear reactor that restarted last week for the first time in more than 13 years, after surviving a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011 that severely damaged the nearby Fukushima nuclear plant, was shut down again on Monday due to an equipment problem, its operator said.
The No. 2 reactor at the Onagawa nuclear power plant on Japan’s northern coast was put back online on October 29 and had been expected to start generating power in early November. However, it had to be shut down just five days after its restart due to a glitch that occurred on Sunday in a device related to neutron data inside the reactor, according to plant operator Tohoku Electric Power Co.
The reactor was operating normally, and there was no release of radiation into the environment, Tohoku Electric stated. The utility decided to shut it down to re-examine the equipment in order to address residents’ safety concerns. No new date for a restart was provided. The reactor is one of three at the Onagawa plant, located 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, where three reactors melted down following a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, releasing large amounts of radiation.
The Onagawa plant was hit by a 13-meter (42-foot) tsunami triggered by the quake but managed to keep its crucial cooling systems functioning in all three reactors and safely shut them down. All of Japan’s 54 commercial nuclear power plants were shut down after the Fukushima disaster for safety checks and upgrades. Onagawa No. 2 was the 13th of the 33 still usable reactors to restart.
Japan’s government adopted a plan last year to maximize the use of nuclear energy and is pushing to accelerate reactor restarts to secure a stable energy supply and meet its pledge to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Concerns regarding the government’s renewed push for nuclear energy grew after a magnitude 7.5 earthquake hit Japan’s Noto Peninsula on January 1, 2024, killing more than 400 people and damaging over 100,000 structures. The earthquake caused minor damage to two nearby nuclear facilities, and evacuation plans for the region were found to be inadequate.
