The company, the owner of the plant and the second largest power producer in Japan, announced that 3.4 tons of radioactive water had leaked from the 1,175 megawatt generating unit No. 1 on Monday evening.
The leak from the plant on Honshu Island, 320 km (200 miles) west of the Japanese capital, was fixed the same evening. The company claims that none of the contaminated water reached the surrounding environment. Kansai also reported that it would halt operations at the plant by 11 p.m. (2 p.m. GMT) Tuesday.
The damaged sections of the plant are due to be inspected at 12.30 a.m. Wednesday (3.30 p.m. GMT Tuesday). No information has been released on how long repairs to the reactor will take.
Japan has been hit by a series of nuclear power plant accidents this year, severely damaging the industry's credibility. July saw a minor radiation leak at the world's largest NPP, Tokyo Electric's Power Co's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, following a major earthquake in the area. As a result, the plant was closed down, and has yet to reopen, disrupting energy supplies to the capital.
