A power company said Thursday it had shut down a nuclear reactor at a plant in western Japan due to water leaks from a pressurizer valve, according to dpa. Kansai Electric Power Co said it had manually suspended reactor 2 at Mihama Nuclear Power Plant, located on the Sea of Japan coast around 300 kilometres west of Tokyo. The reactor was scheduled to be shut down on December 18 for a regular checkup. Following the shutdown, only two of the company's 11 reactors in the region are still running. Those are due to be stopped for maintenance on December 16 and in February, respectively. Only eight of the nation's 54 reactors remain in operation, as public opinion has resisted the restarting of reactors shut down for maintenance or inspection since the March disaster at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. The plant, 250 kilometres north-east of Tokyo, has been leaking radioactive material into the environment since it was hit by a magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami on March 11, which triggered meltdowns in three of its six reactors.
