On 12 August, Shikoku Electric Power Company began the restart process for the third unit at its Ikata nuclear power plant in Japanese Ehime prefecture. Operators have started to pull up control rods from the reactor’s core, which will enable the fission reaction to start. On 15 August, the power plant should again supply power to the network. Output of the 864 MWe pressurized-water reactor will be gradually increased and the power plant should reach full capacity on 22 August. Ikata 3 was shut down for periodic maintenance on April 2011.
Ikata 3 is the fifth Japanese reactor restarted according to the new safety standards introduced after March 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. Another 20 reactors are going through the restart process. The process’s priority is to restart the most needed reactors, which are located in areas more supportive of their restart.
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