Power Flow From Japan's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Plant To Be Halted After Alarm Problem

TOKYO, March 13 (Bernama-Xinhua) -- Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO) said on Friday that power generation and transmission from the No. 6 reactor at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata Prefecture will be halted after an alarm went off, Xinhua reported.

According to TEPCO, the alarm went off at around 4 pm local time on Thursday, signalling that a small amount of electricity may have been leaking from a generator.

The utility decided to suspend both power generation and transmission of the reactor in order to investigate the problem.

The reactor itself has shown no abnormalities and continues operating, with no safety issues identified, TEPCO said, adding that it is examining whether the incident could affect its plan to begin full commercial operations on March 18.

The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, about 220 kilometres northwest of Tokyo, is the world's biggest nuclear power plant by potential capacity. The restart of the No. 6 reactor at the seven-unit complex in January marked the first TEPCO-run unit to go back online since the Fukushima nuclear disaster, which has met local opposition amid criticism that the plant sits on an active seismic fault zone.  

-- BERNAMA-XINHUA