Kansai Electric Power Co. on Friday shut down a reactor at the Mihama nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture after failing to halt a leak that had been spewing radioactive cooling water for almost three days, company officials said.
The leakage from the container vessel at the plant's No. 3 reactor was detected shortly after 1:40 a.m. Tuesday, Fukui prefectural officials said.
By the early hours of Friday morning, 5.6 tons of radioactive water had leaked out.
While the authorities of the town of Mihama, the Fukui Prefectural Government and the national government were informed by Kansai Electric of the leak Tuesday morning, the public was kept in the dark until the early hours of Friday, when Kansai Electric was forced to shut down the reactor to carry out repairs.