Nuclear reactor in northeast Japan stopped after radiation water leak

TOKYO, October 17. /TASS/. Unit two of Japan’s Onagawa nuclear power plant in the northeastern Japanese Miyagi prefecture has been shut down following a leak of technical water containing an insignificant amount of radioactive substances, the NPP’s owner Tohoku Electric Power said.

The company notified that the leak originates from a faulty valve. Its workers are collecting the radioactive wastewater, and no containment breach beyond the facility’s perimeter has been detected. The incident poses no threat to the environment, the company added.

The power unit will be shut down for ten days to inspect and replace the malfunctioning components. Technical water is currently leaking at a rate of approximately 0.2 metric tons per hour.

The Onagawa NPP previously suspended its operations in May, following a minor release of radioactive steam.

The facility was shut down following the 2011 Fukushima NPP accident, but was put back on stream in 2024.

The accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant prompted the government to shut down all the 54 nuclear power stations in the country, which dealt a huge blow to the energy supply. Until the spring of 2011, the nuclear reactors generated a third of the electricity the island consumes. Currently, the country is partially restarting nuclear power plants in compliance with new enhanced safety measures. Currently, there are 14 reactors in operation, and their number is gradually increasing.

The government of the new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi advocates restarting the closed reactors and is actively negotiating this with the regional authorities.