Unit 3 at Kyushu Electric Power Company's Genkai nuclear plant in Saga Prefecture resumed operation on 22 March for the first time in over seven years, despite concerns among residents about evacuation procedures.
The reactor cleared safety screening by the Nuclear Regulation Authority in January 2017 meeting the stricter, post-Fukushima regulations and was later approved for reactivation by the Genkai municipal government and Saga prefectural government. The restart of Genkai 3, which uses mixed oxide (Mox) fuel, sparked protests when a group of about 100 citizens gathered in front of the plant, calling for the shutdowns of all nuclear plants in Japan.
Kyushu plans to start commercial operation of the plant in late April. It is the third reactor reactivated by the utility, following Sendai 1&2 in Kagoshima Prefecture, which came back online in 2015. Kyushu also plans to restart Genkai 4 in May. Genkai 3 is the seventh nuclear plant to restart under the new regulatory standards. The sixth, Kansai Electric’s Ohi 3, was restarted on 14 March. The other units in operation are: Kyushu's Sendai 1&2; Shikoku's Ikata 3; and Kansai's Takahama 3&4. Another 18 reactors have applied to restart.
