AP : Jan. 29, 2016
TOKYO (AP) — Japan on Friday restarted a nuclear reactor that uses riskier plutonium-based MOX fuel, the first of that type to resume operations under stricter safety rules introduced after the 2011 Fukushima disaster.
Japan's large stockpile of plutonium has raised international nuclear security concerns, and the government has come up with the idea of burning it in reactors to reduce the amount.
The No. 3 reactor at Takahama nuclear plant in western Japan, operated by Kansai Electric Power Co., went back online Friday. Dozens of people protested outside the plant in Fukui prefecture, where preparations for a restart of another reactor, No. 4, are also underway.
Fukui has more than a dozen reactors, the biggest concentration in one prefecture, causing safety concerns for neighbors including Kyoto and Shiga, whose Lake Biwa is a major source of drinking water for western Japan.
Two reactors that use conventional uranium fuel were restarted last year in southern Japan.
Japan started burning MOX, a plutonium-uranium hybrid fuel, in some of its conventional reactors in 2009. Experts say conventional reactors can safely burn MOX for up to one-third of their fuel, but it emits more radiation and could interfere with control rods when they are needed to suppress the nuclear chain reaction.
Japan has enough plutonium, mostly from reprocessed spent fuel, to make 6,000 bombs.
Nearly five years since a massive earthquake and tsunami caused meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, about 100,000 people still cannot return to nearby areas. Workers at the plant continue to struggle with its decommissioning, which will take decades.
Aiming to help business by generating energy, Japan's government is pushing to restart as many reactors as possible after they are deemed safe. Forty remaining workable reactors are still offline for safety checks.
.........................................................................
Notes:
The Otsu District Court issued a provisional injunction to suspend operations of the two reactors of the Takahama Nuclear Power Plant in Fukui Prefecture. This is a result of public campaigns against nuclear power generation, giving a serious blow to the Abe administration which is aiming to restart nuclear reactors across the country. (Mar.9/2016, Otsu City, Shiga Pref.)
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ab2e8e31b58e46c0ac541b5bf7b08ed3/japan-restarts-nuclear-reactor-using-plutonium-mixed-fuel
Japan Restarts Third Nuclear Reactor, a MOX Unit
Power : 1 February 2016
Following rigorous safety checks, Kansai Electric Power Co. on February 1 restarted a unit that uses a uranium-plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel at its Takahama nuclear plant in Japan’s Fukui prefecture.
The unit is the third restarted in Japan since the country’s Nuclear Regulation Agency (NRA) idled all reactors and began safety checks in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster. Currently, 43 reactors are considered operable, with about 22 in some stage of the lengthy process to restart.
In August and October, Kyushu Electric Power Co. restarted the Sendai 1 and 2 reactors in Kagoshima prefecture. The 870-MW Takahama 3 pressurized water reactor’s 157 nuclear fuel assemblies, including 24 MOX fuel assemblies, were loaded into the reactor in December.
In a statement announcing the unit’s restart on February 1, Kansai Electric’s president and director, Makoto Yagi, said the company would monitor the plant status at each stage, and would “give sincere and deliberate support to the subsequent inspections” to be performed by the NRA.
“With a firm determination that we will never see an accident like Fukushima Daiichi, I will commit myself to enhancing the safety of nuclear power generation by promoting the safety improvement measures in a voluntary and ongoing manner even beyond the regulatory framework while being fully aware that we should make an untiring effort to enhance the safety,” he said.
The NRA, meanwhile, has so far completed safety assessments for Takahama 4 as well as Shikoku Electric’s Ikata 3. Experts widely expected that between six and 12 more plants will resume commercial operation by March 2017.
Japan’s July 2015–finalized long-term energy plan calls for nuclear units to provide between 20% and 22% of its power in fiscal year 2030.
“However, around 30-35GW of nuclear capacity is needed to meet the 20-22% share, though this depends on the capacity factor,” said Tomoko Murakami, manager of the Institute of Energy Economics’ Nuclear Energy Group. “In 2016, both the NRA and the plant operators are expected to make efforts to allow operators to operate plants beyond 40 years provided that they take measures for meeting the requirements.”
—Sonal Patel, associate editor (@POWERmagazine, @sonalcpatel)
http://www.powermag.com/japans-third-nuclear-reactor-a-mox-unit-restarted/
TOKYO (AP) — Japan on Friday restarted a nuclear reactor that uses riskier plutonium-based MOX fuel, the first of that type to resume operations under stricter safety rules introduced after the 2011 Fukushima disaster.
Japan's large stockpile of plutonium has raised international nuclear security concerns, and the government has come up with the idea of burning it in reactors to reduce the amount.
The No. 3 reactor at Takahama nuclear plant in western Japan, operated by Kansai Electric Power Co., went back online Friday. Dozens of people protested outside the plant in Fukui prefecture, where preparations for a restart of another reactor, No. 4, are also underway.
Two reactors that use conventional uranium fuel were restarted last year in southern Japan.
Japan started burning MOX, a plutonium-uranium hybrid fuel, in some of its conventional reactors in 2009. Experts say conventional reactors can safely burn MOX for up to one-third of their fuel, but it emits more radiation and could interfere with control rods when they are needed to suppress the nuclear chain reaction.
Japan has enough plutonium, mostly from reprocessed spent fuel, to make 6,000 bombs.
Nearly five years since a massive earthquake and tsunami caused meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, about 100,000 people still cannot return to nearby areas. Workers at the plant continue to struggle with its decommissioning, which will take decades.
Aiming to help business by generating energy, Japan's government is pushing to restart as many reactors as possible after they are deemed safe. Forty remaining workable reactors are still offline for safety checks.
.........................................................................
Notes:
The Otsu District Court issued a provisional injunction to suspend operations of the two reactors of the Takahama Nuclear Power Plant in Fukui Prefecture. This is a result of public campaigns against nuclear power generation, giving a serious blow to the Abe administration which is aiming to restart nuclear reactors across the country. (Mar.9/2016, Otsu City, Shiga Pref.)
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ab2e8e31b58e46c0ac541b5bf7b08ed3/japan-restarts-nuclear-reactor-using-plutonium-mixed-fuel
Japan Restarts Third Nuclear Reactor, a MOX Unit
Power : 1 February 2016
Following rigorous safety checks, Kansai Electric Power Co. on February 1 restarted a unit that uses a uranium-plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel at its Takahama nuclear plant in Japan’s Fukui prefecture.
The unit is the third restarted in Japan since the country’s Nuclear Regulation Agency (NRA) idled all reactors and began safety checks in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster. Currently, 43 reactors are considered operable, with about 22 in some stage of the lengthy process to restart.
In August and October, Kyushu Electric Power Co. restarted the Sendai 1 and 2 reactors in Kagoshima prefecture. The 870-MW Takahama 3 pressurized water reactor’s 157 nuclear fuel assemblies, including 24 MOX fuel assemblies, were loaded into the reactor in December.
In a statement announcing the unit’s restart on February 1, Kansai Electric’s president and director, Makoto Yagi, said the company would monitor the plant status at each stage, and would “give sincere and deliberate support to the subsequent inspections” to be performed by the NRA.
“With a firm determination that we will never see an accident like Fukushima Daiichi, I will commit myself to enhancing the safety of nuclear power generation by promoting the safety improvement measures in a voluntary and ongoing manner even beyond the regulatory framework while being fully aware that we should make an untiring effort to enhance the safety,” he said.
The NRA, meanwhile, has so far completed safety assessments for Takahama 4 as well as Shikoku Electric’s Ikata 3. Experts widely expected that between six and 12 more plants will resume commercial operation by March 2017.
Japan’s July 2015–finalized long-term energy plan calls for nuclear units to provide between 20% and 22% of its power in fiscal year 2030.
“However, around 30-35GW of nuclear capacity is needed to meet the 20-22% share, though this depends on the capacity factor,” said Tomoko Murakami, manager of the Institute of Energy Economics’ Nuclear Energy Group. “In 2016, both the NRA and the plant operators are expected to make efforts to allow operators to operate plants beyond 40 years provided that they take measures for meeting the requirements.”
—Sonal Patel, associate editor (@POWERmagazine, @sonalcpatel)
http://www.powermag.com/japans-third-nuclear-reactor-a-mox-unit-restarted/
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