TEPCO may resume operations of No. 3 reactor in Niigata
TOKYO, April 13, Kyodo

The chief of Tokyo Electric Power Co. expressed his desire Wednesday to restart by the yearend the operations of the No. 3 nuclear reactor at a Niigata Prefecture nuclear plant damaged by an earthquake that ravaged the prefecture in 2007.

''We would like to begin procedures for the No. 3 reactor by the end of the year,'' President Masataka Shimizu said of the status of the Nos. 2, 3 and 4 reactors that have been suspended since the 2007 temblor.

TEPCO ''would like to operate the reactor while deploying power-source vehicles and implementing measures to withstand tsunamis,'' he told a news conference, indicating the company will reinforce the reactor building to prepare for possible further earthquakes.

The Kashizawaki-Kariwa nuclear plant, fitted with a total of seven reactors, was hit by the magnitude-6.8 temblor on July 16, 2007.

TEPCO said in a 2007 report the plant developed a total of 50 cases of radioactive water leaks, fire at its transformer and other problems as a result of the 2007 quake.

Shimizu remained noncommittal on the fate of the Higashidori nuclear power plant which TEPCO is now building in Higashidori, Aomori Prefecture.

==Kyodo