Onagawa No. 2 Reactor to Go Back Online amid Mixed Local Feelings

Tokyo, Oct. 27 (Jiji Press)--A nuclear power reactor in northeastern Japan is set to be reactivated Tuesday, amid mixed feelings among local residents.

The No. 2 unit at Tohoku Electric Power Co.'s Onagawa nuclear power station in Miyagi Prefecture will be the first reactor going back online in eastern Japan since the March 2011 powerful earthquake and tsunami, which struck Miyagi and other northeastern prefectures.

The Onagawa No. 2 unit is a boiling water reactor, the same type as reactors at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, where an unprecedented triple meltdown occurred soon after the quake and tsunami due to reactor damage caused by the natural disaster. It is also the first time for a BWR to be brought back online.

Some people living around the Onagawa plant, which straddles the town of Onagawa and the city of Ishinomaki, have expressed understanding for the restart of the No. 2 reactor, while other local residents have voiced concerns about the possibility of an accident occurring at the plant after the reactivation.

The nuclear plant's No. 1 and No. 3 units, both BWRs as well, were in operation and the No. 2 reactor was in the process of being activated when the earthquake and tsunami struck.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]