Investigation to Be Conducted into Emergency Diesel Generator Failure at Unit 6 of Japan's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant

Tokyo Electric Power Company announced that it will investigate the failure of the emergency diesel generator at Unit 6 of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. The unit was restarted after 14 years of shutdown and resumed commercial operation in April this year.

According to Tokyo Electric Power Company, in July this year, workers discovered that water had mixed into the lubricating oil of the emergency diesel generator at Unit 6. Subsequent inspections confirmed that there was a water leak in the “cylinder head,” a component of the generator engine. The company therefore determined that the unit currently does not meet the operational safety specification requirements.

Tokyo Electric Power Company stated that it plans to complete the relevant repair work by September 19. If the repair cannot be completed by then, the cause of the failure will be further investigated, and measures may include shutting down the reactor for inspection.

Currently, the reactor operation and spent fuel pool cooling of Unit 6 at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant have not been affected.