(Update) TEPCO Briefly Halts Fuel Loading at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Reactor

   Tokyo, April 17 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. briefly halted fuel loading at the idled No. 7 reactor at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture, central Japan, on Wednesday following an electrical system problem.
   TEPCO said there are no safety concerns over the problem, and resumed the work at around 11:30 p.m. after replacing equipment.
   According to TEPCO, the breaker of a certain device was turned on around 7 a.m. to prepare to insert control rods, but it immediately shut off. The company is investigating the cause of the incident.
   A problem also occurred with related equipment on Monday night, and the fuel loading work was suspended for three hours.
   Since the work began on Monday afternoon, 41 of the 872 fuel assemblies have been transported into the No. 7 reactor. With control rods in place for all of the transported fuel assemblies, TEPCO said that there are no safety concerns.

(2024/04/18-00:42)