Oi nuclear plant's No. 3 reactor resumes full operation

FUKUI, Japan, July 9 -- (Kyodo) _ A reactor at the Oi nuclear power plant in western Japan began generating electricity at full capacity Monday morning, becoming the first of Japan's 50 commercial reactors to return to full service since they all went offline in early May, the plant operator said.

The No. 3 reactor at the plant on the Sea of Japan coast in Fukui Prefecture started full-capacity generation at 1 a.m. as planned after recovering from a fall in output on Sunday due to the presence of jellyfish near its cooling water intake, Kansai Electric Power Co. said.

The 1.18 million kilowatt reactor was restarted July 1 after being halted in March last year for periodic checks, the first reactivation since last year's crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and bringing an end to the total halt of Japan's nuclear reactors.

After confirming that the reactor is running at full capacity, the government will lower its power-saving target for the utility's service area for this summer to 10 percent from the initially imposed 15 percent, as the area's projected power shortfall will decline to 9.2 percent from the initial 14.9 percent.

If an inspection Monday confirms there are no problems affecting the reactor's full operation, the utility will start running the reactor at a stable thermal output by lowering boron concentration in the reactor's primary cooling water to allow it to generate more heat, it said.

The utility is also preparing to restart the plant's No. 4 reactor with an eye to bringing it to full output on or after July 25, it added.