Just in time for the LNG deluge, from Nikkei:
While a second reactor came back online Thursday under tough new regulations imposed after the Fukushima Daiichi meltdown, a third restart will likely need to wait until early next year.
…The Sendai No. 2 reactor was restarted at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday. Criticality, the point at which the fission chain reaction becomes self-sustaining, was achieved around 11 p.m. The reactor is expected to resume power transmission next Wednesday and enter full commercial operation in mid-November.
Shikoku Electric Power‘s Ikata No. 3 reactor in Ehime Prefecture is the most likely to be restarted next, having passed the Nuclear Regulation Authority’s safety checks in July. Meeting with Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Motoo Hayashi in Tokyo on Thursday, Ehime Gov. Tokihiro Nakamura asked for the full support of the government, including help with evacuation in the event of an accident. Hayashi will visit the site as early as next week, aiming to win Nakamura’s blessing for a restart.
While utilities have applied for safety checks of 25 reactors at 15 plants, only five reactors at three plants — Sendai, Takahama and Ikata — have passed.
So far. They’ll all be back and Japan will be able to reduce its LNG usage by 30% in time for 2030 as nuclear rises to above 20%.
