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Japan's 55th commercial nuclear reactor starts operation+
(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)KANAZAWA, Japan, March 15_(Kyodo) _ Hokuriku Electric Power Co.'s No. 2 reactor at the Shiga nuclear power plant in Ishikawa Prefecture, which is Japan's 55th commercial reactor, started operating on Wednesday morning after passing final inspections by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
The 1,358-megawatt upgraded boiling-water reactor has been undergoing a test run and is the first new reactor to start operating since Tohoku Electric Power Co.'s No. 1 reactor at the Higashidori nuclear plant in Aomori Prefecture began operating in December.
The output capacity of the Shiga No. 2 reactor is next to the 1,380 megawatts of the No. 5 reactor at Chubu Electric Power Co.'s Hamaoka plant in Shizuoka Prefecture.
Hokuriku Electric Power presented a plan to build an additional reactor to the residents of Shiga in 1993 and began building the reactor in 1999.
The reactor will supply 900 megawatts of electricity, which is about two-thirds of its full capacity, to Kansai Electric Power Co. and Chubu Electric Power during the first five years, because energy demand is not strong enough because of a lackluster economy in the Hokuriku region along Sea of Japan coasts.
Residents near the No. 2 reactor have filed a lawsuit with the Kanazawa District Court demanding that the utility suspend the operation of the reactor. The court is scheduled to rule on the matter on March 24.
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