Sendai will start removing control rods Tuesday 10:30 AM TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Kyushu Electric Power Co. said Monday it will restart the No. 1 reactor at its Sendai nuclear power plant in Kagoshima Prefecture on Tuesday morning.
The restart will put an end to the total absence of active nuclear reactors in the nation that has continued since September 2013.
The Sendai No. 1 reactor will be the first to be reactivated under the country’s stricter safety standards introduced in July 2013 based on lessons learned from the accident at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 plant, which was heavily damaged in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Kyushu Electric will start work to remove control rods from the Sendai No. 1 reactor at around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. The reactor is expected to reach criticality, a self-sustained nuclear fission chain reaction, at around 11 p.m.