Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said it was preparing to restart the 784 megawatt No.3 reactor at its Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant on Friday, at which it is set to burn so-called mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel for the first time.
Fukushima is a nuclear power plant located in the town of Okuma in the Futaba District of Fukushima Prefecture. With 6 operating units located on site, Fukushima is one of the largest nuclear plant sites in the world. Fukushima is the first nuclear plant to be constructed and run entirely by TEPCO.
Asia's biggest utility said if all goes as planned, the reactor will start generating power on Sept. 22 and begin commercial operations on Oct. 26.
It had shut the reactor at the northern Japan plant for planned maintenance on June 19.
During the shutdown, TEPCO prepared for uranium dioxide as well as MOX fuel to be burned at the reactor, making it the first time the company will use the recycled fuel.
Other power companies have started using the recycled fuel as part of Japan's goal to move towards a closed cycle where it recycles its own spent fuel and then burns recovered uranium and plutonium as MOX fuel.
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