Steam leak found at Genkai nuclear plant

March 31, 2018

Tokyo- Kyushu Electric Power Co. said Friday it has found a small steam leak at the No. 3 reactor at its Genkai nuclear power plant in Saga Prefecture, southwestern Japan.

There will be no impact on the environment because there has been no radiation leak, the company said.

The reactor will stop generating electricity as early as Saturday morning for an inspection, Kyushu Electric said.

Due to the inspection, the reactor is unlikely to shift to commercial operations in late April as planned.

Around 7 p.m. Friday (10 a.m. GMT), plant staff found steam was leaking from a pipe at a deaerator, a secondary-system device used to remove oxygen and carbon dioxide.

The company has no plans to bring the reactor offline following the steam leak. But there is a possibility that the reactor's operations will be suspended if high temperatures make the inspection difficult.

The reactor resumed operations on March 23 for the first time in over seven years and started generating and transmitting electricity on Sunday.

The reactor raised its output to 75 percent from 50 percent Friday morning to prepare itself to operate at full capacity starting as early as Thursday. Jiji Press