6 fun news facts about the wizarding world OF HARRY POTTER

I consider myself a true Harry Potter fan. I’ve read all the books (multiple times), cherish all the films and have been known to sport a burgundy and gold lanyard around the office (go Gryffindor!). You can imagine my excitement when a few months after grand opening, we’re sharing some new stats about The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley.

Check out these golden nuggets…or shall I say Galleons!

Number of bricks in the entrance to Diagon Alley: 7,456 bricks – and together, the bricks weigh more than 37,000 pounds!

Number of times the Gringotts dragon has breathed fire: The Ukrainian Ironbelly has breathed fire more than 15,000 times since The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley officially opened.

Temperature of the dragon’s fire: 3,560 degrees Fahrenheit (1,960 degrees Celsius). That’s more than 16 times hotter than boiling water!

Number of crystals in the chandeliers within the lobby of Gringotts bank: The four chandeliers include nearly 62,000 crystals.

Number of mythical creature species inside the Magical Menagerie: 13 different types of creatures, including Kneazles (like the one in the photo), Demiguises and Graphorns.

Number of passengers who travelled aboard the Hogwarts Express: More than 5 million guests have travelled aboard the Hogwarts Express since Diagon Alley officially opened.

What’s your favorite memory to date from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley? Join the conversation and tell us by using #DiagonAlley in your next post!

Japan’s Kyushu Electric begins loading reactor fuel

Kyushu Electric Power Co started loading uranium fuel rods into a reactor on Tuesday, marking the first attempt to reboot Japan's nuclear industry in nearly two years after the sector was shutdown following the 2011 Fukushima disaster.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government has been pushing to bring some of the country's reactors back online, arguing they are key to economic growth, but opinion polls show a consistent majority oppose restarts, even though power bills have risen as utilities use expensive liquefied natural gas to generate power.

Loss-making Kyushu, the monopoly supplier on a southwestern island of the same name, says starting the No. 1 reactor at its Sendai nuclear station would help it reduce costs incurred from burning fossil fuels by about US$60 million (RM228.75 million) a month.

Fuel loading at the Sendai No. 1 reactor began a little after 0430 GMT on Tuesday, Kyushu said in statement.

The company will load 157 fuel assemblies into the 890-megawatt reactor by Friday, after which regulators will make final checks, spokesman Tomomitsu Sakata told Reuters.

Kyushu, which reported a fourth year of losses for the 12 months ended March, expects to begin starting up the reactor around mid-August, he added.

It also aims to have the 890-megawatt No. 2 reactor running by mid-October. With both reactors operating, Kyushu will save about 15 billion yen (RM466 million) in fuel costs per month, Sakata said, adding that the savings would come mainly from using less oil and LNG.

The reactors will generate about 1.3 billion kilowatt hours of power per month when fully operational, Sakata said.

Kyushu Electric's shares closed 6.3% higher on Tuesday, tracking gains in other utilities.

Hurdles, however, remain before the Sendai nuclear plant starts running, including possible failure of equipment that have not been used for more than four years. Further restarts at other reactors also face obstacles, including strong opposition among local residents and authorities and court injunctions.

Kyushu was initially expecting to start up the Sendai plant in late July, but then it postponed the restart, saying operational checks of some facilities would end later than previously announced.

Opinion polls show consistent opposition to nuclear power among Japan's public, even after electricity bills rose in the wake of the disaster.

The closure of Japan's reactors caused tens of billions of dollars in losses at utilities as they resorted to importing more fossil fuels for power generation and paid for upgrades to meet tightened safety rules. – Reuters, July 7, 2015.