Takahama Nuclear Reactor Halted after Alarm Goes Off

Fukui, Jan. 30 (Jiji Press)--The No. 4 reactor at Kansai Electric Power Co.'s <9503> Takahama nuclear power plant in the central Japan prefecture of Fukui was automatically halted on Monday after an alarm went off, warning of a sharp decrease in neutrons.

There are no issues with the cooling process of the reactor, and the stoppage has no effect outside of the reactor, prefectural and Kansai Electric officials said.

Kansai Electric will put the reactor in the Fukui town of Takahama under cold shutdown to find the cause of the issue.

The event has not negatively affected the power supply to the Kansai western Japan region, the company said.

The alarm went off at around 3:20 p.m. (6:20 a.m. GMT), according to Kansai Electric and the prefectural government. At least two of the four neutron detectors placed outside of the reactor detected neutron levels falling below standard levels.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]