A cooling system failure in one of the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant reactors has been repaired and the reactor could resume operations as soon as the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) gives its approval, Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) said yesterday.

An application to restart the second reactor at the plant in Pingtung County’s Hengchun Township (恆春) was submitted to the council after the problem was fixed late on Sunday, Taipower spokesman Lin Te-fu (林德福) said.

It is uncertain when the council is to approve a restart, but there should be no concerns about power shortages, Lin said.

Minister of Economic Affairs Lee Chih-kung (李世光) said he was hopeful the reactor would be able to go back online this morning.

Taipower had estimated that electricity consumption nationwide yesterday would reach 35.7 million kilowatts (kW), with power reserves at 1.3 million kW, giving an operating reserve margin of 3.75 percent, Lin said.

That meant that the incident was not serious enough for the company to flash a red warning signal, which occurs when operating reserves fall below 900,000kW, he said.

Taipower’s supply warning system issues an orange warning when the operating reserve margin falls below 6 percent, a red warning when it falls below 900,000kW and a black warning when it falls below 500,000kW, which also usually means that power rationing needs to be implemented.

Taipower has installed generators at its Dalin plant in Kaohsiung and its Tongxiao plant in Miaoli to increase power supplies, Lin said.

The company said there was no risk of radiation leaks after a cooling pump at the reactor developed problems early on Sunday.