| GEO World | | Japan nuke plant to restart two years after quake: operator | Updated at: 1120 PST, Friday, May 08, 2009
TOKYO: The world's largest nuclear power plant will resume operations this weekend, two years after it was shut down following a strong earthquake off the Japanese coast, the operator said Friday.
One of seven reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, located 300 kilometres (185 miles) northwest of Tokyo, will likely start test operations on Saturday, said operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO). The company said it would shift to full power generation at the reactor after up to 50 days of test runs. TEPCO decided on the move after the municipal governments gave the formal go-ahead, a company spokesman said.
The sprawling 8,200-megawatt plant has been dormant since July 2007 when a quake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale struck in the Sea of Japan (East Sea), killing 15 people and injuring thousands. Public concern mounted when television footage showed white smoke coming from an electric transformer, while the operator said radioactive water had leaked into the ocean during the tremor.
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