{"id":4290,"date":"2019-01-30T09:31:22","date_gmt":"2019-01-30T00:31:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cnic.jp\/english\/?p=4290"},"modified":"2019-01-30T10:49:37","modified_gmt":"2019-01-30T01:49:37","slug":"news-watch-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/?p=4290","title":{"rendered":"News Watch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Onagawa Unit 1 to be\nDecommissioned<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nTohoku Electric Power Company submitted a notification of changes to power\ngeneration facilities to the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry on\nDecember 21, 2018, saying it would decommission the Unit 1 reactor (BWR, 524\nMW) at the Onagawa Nuclear Power Station. Further, it was reported in January\n2019 that Kyushu Electric Power Co. was considering decommissioning the Unit 2\nreactor at its Genkai Nuclear Power Station (PWR, 559 MW). It has also been\nconfirmed that steps toward decommissioning of Units 1 to 4 at the Tokyo\nElectric Power Co.\u2019s (TEPCO\u2019s) Fukushima Daini NPP (each BWR, 1100 MW) will be\ntaken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nbrings the total number of reactors slated for decommissioning to 21 of the 54\nunits Japan counted prior to the Fukushima nuclear accident, and it is expected\nthat the number of reactors to be decommissioned will increase further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fuel Retrieval from\nMonju Hits a Snag<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Retrieval\nof fuel from the Monju prototype fast breeder reactor (280 MW), the first step\nin its decommissioning, got underway in August 2018. First, 160 spent fuel assemblies\nmust be unloaded from the ex-vessel storage tank, but the plan to take out 100 assemblies\nin 2018 encountered difficulties involving frequent problems with the fuel\nretrieval device, and has been carried over into 2019. A promise had been made for\nthe fuel to be transported out of Fukui Prefecture, but a destination for it\nhas yet to be determined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Extraction\nof secondary-system sodium was completed by the end of 2018, with the sodium\ntransferred to tanks. Regarding the primary system, however, no consideration\nhad been given to decommissioning in the original design, so structural\nelements to prevent meltdowns due to exposure of fuel have impeded extraction\nitself, presenting a problem to be resolved in the future. Methods for transporting\nthe tanks to which the sodium has been transferred out of Fukui Prefecture and\nits disposal have also yet to be determined, along with where this will be\ndone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Liaison Council on Monju Decommissioning Measures held on December 21, 2018, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) explained that the \u201cSpecial Fuel Disposal Facility\u201d being planned by Orano Cycle of France is a candidate destination for disposal of the spent fuel. While there have been enquiries from a number of companies overseas regarding acceptance of secondary-system sodium, the policy is limited to determining candidates for exportation by 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u2018Strategic Road Map\u2019 for Fast Reactor\nDevelopment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Council\non Fast Reactor Development, which was established to promote fast reactor\ndevelopment even after decommissioning of Monju, put together a strategic\nroadmap on December 20, 2018, and had it approved the next day, December 21, by\nthe Ministerial Conference on Atomic Energy. Unlike typical experts\u2019 councils, these\ndo not even include one or two committee members with critical viewpoints to\ngive the impression of neutrality, but have the explicit purpose of promoting\nthis technology. The former is chaired by Japan\u2019s Minister of Economy, Trade\nand Industry and includes as members the Minister of Education, Culture,\nSports, Science and Technology, Director of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency\n(JAEA), Chairman of the Federation of Electric Power Companies and President of\nMitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.; while the latter is presided over by Japan\u2019s\nChief Cabinet Secretary and includes as members the Foreign Minister, Minister\nof Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Minister of Economy,\nTrade and Industry and \u201cextraordinary\u201d cabinet ministers in charge of science\n& technology and nuclear emergency preparedness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belying\nits title of \u201cStrategic Road Map,\u201d a mere two pages of the total 12 pages are\nworded like a roadmap. Even those just give the appearance of \u201ca roadmap toward\ncreating a roadmap,\u201d with (1) a step to encourage competition and try out\nvarious ideas, (2) a step to narrow down the choices and put emphasize on\nsupport and (3) a step to consider future development issues and schedules. Before\nthat, there were accounts mentioning a possible timing of full-scale use of\nfast reactors starting at one point or another in the latter half of the 21st<\/sup>\ncentury or anticipating the beginning of operations at a practical scale from\nthe viewpoint of technical maturation, financing and operational experience\naround the middle of the 21st<\/sup> century, but such speculations cannot\nbe called a \u201croadmap.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is\noccurring in the context of a passive stance by Japan\u2019s electric power\nindustry. According to the November 5 issue of The Denki Shimbun<\/em> (The\nElectric Daily News), Kunio Morinaka (an executive director at the Kansai\nElectric Power Co. (KEPCO)), who chairs the Federation of Electric Power\nCompanies\u2019 Committee on Measures for Nuclear Power Development explained the\nviews of the electric power companies at the meeting to draw up the roadmap. He\nsaid that they are emphasizing the need for companies involved in energy to\ncontribute to some degree toward fast reactor development and say they will\ncooperate as much as possible with any policies the government puts forward.\nThis is clearly a declaration that they do not intend to make efforts on their\nown initiative. Pushing back the target for practical use of fast reactors\nsomewhat from the original goal of 2050 may be seen as \u201crealistic,\u201d but it is\nstill far removed from the hard facts. Implementation of fast reactor\ntechnology is unlikely to be realized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No Indication from KEPCO\non Candidate Destinations for Spent Fuel <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

KEPCO President Iwane Shigeki apologized on December 21, 2018 to Governor Nishikawa Issei of Fukui Prefecture for his inability to announce the candidate sites for interim storage of spent nuclear fuel outside the prefecture by year end, as he had promised to do. He had made that promise a year earlier in November 2017, and the governor had accepted this as a condition for agreeing to allow Units 3 and 4 (both PWR, 1180 MW) of the Oi Nuclear Power Station to be restarted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nmayors of Mihama, Takahama and Oi Towns, where the station is located, criticized\nKEPCO severely, while on the other hand, the governor considered the idea of\nnot necessarily insisting the spent fuel be taken out of the prefecture.\nHowever, on January 7, 2019, President Iwane reiterated his denial that the\ninterim storage would be in Fukui Prefecture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interim Spent Fuel\nStorage Facility in Mutsu Delays Start of Operations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On January 6, 2018, Kyodo News reported on negotiations by KEPCO\nwith Recyclable-Fuel Storage Co. (established through joint investment by TEPCO\nand Japan Atomic Power Co.) regarding use of its facility under construction in\nMutsu City, Aomori Prefecture as a destination for storage of spent fuel\nconsignments (all parties involved denied this). Recyclable-Fuel Storage Co. submitted\nan addendum to Japan\u2019s Nuclear Regulation Authority on January 10, 2019 to\ntheir application for approval of changes in their business plan, to delay the\nstart of operations until 2021, whereas the previous plan was for the latter\nhalf of 2018. This is the seventh such delay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MHPS Delivers Turbine\nGenerators for Haiyang Unit 1 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Ltd. (MHPS) signed\ndocuments on December 11, 2018 for delivery of turbine generation facilities to\nShandong Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. for the Unit 1 reactor (AP1000, 1250 MW) at\nits Haiyang Nuclear Power Plant in China. According to a press release by MHPS,\nit had been managing all of the designs for turbines, heat exchangers, main\nvalves, etc. and transferring the technology based on a technology transfer\nagreement with Harbin Electric Corporation. MHPS had therefore produced and\nsupplied six low-pressure turbines, two high-pressure turbines, the main valves\nand other electrical generation equipment. Harbin Electric has handled the\nproduction of the turbine casing and heat exchanger, while Mitsubishi Electric Corporation\nand Harbin Electric have supplied one generator each.
\n
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Criticism of Nuclear\nPower from Keidanren Chair?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chairman Nakanishi Hiroaki of Keidanren (Japan Business Federation), who is also Chairman and CEO of Hitachi, Ltd., has become the talk of the town over the criticism he expressed toward nuclear power during his first media interview in the New Year. The January 5, 2019 issue of Tokyo Shimbun<\/em> reported that Chairman Nakanishi had made negative remarks about fossil fuels and renewable energy, but he also had the following to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNearly\neight years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11,\n2011, but no nuclear power plants in eastern Japan have resumed operation thus\nfar. Forcing energy companies and vendors such as Hitachi to produce something\neveryone opposes is not what a democratic nation does. How can we produce\nthings the citizens don\u2019t want? I think we should get serious and hold discussions\nopen to the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHuge\nsums of money are being sunk into safety measures for nuclear plants that will\nnot operate. The electric power companies are doing things that would be\nunthinkable to a manager like me who has had to take additional measures to\nmaintain plants that have produced nothing for eight years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is criticizing nuclear power, but that doesn\u2019t mean he has taken an anti-nuke stance. A couple of weeks later at a regular press conference, he had the following to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLack\nof progress toward restarting nuclear power plants has become an issue most\nrecently, but vigorous efforts should be made to promote restarts. Even if we\ndiscuss their safety exhaustively, we\u2019ve reached a point where we cannot obtain\nunderstanding among the local communities. Such persuasion cannot be\naccomplished by the electric power companies on their own, but broad\ndiscussions are needed. Despite this, there is not enough frank and open\ndiscussion of nuclear power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we\nassume nuclear power will not be used as a baseload power source, we must think\nrationally about what the energy source for humanity will be over the long\nterm. It would be utterly impossible for renewable energy by itself to cover\nour needs. Nuclear technology should be used effectively to help humanity.\u201d\n(Japan Business Federation, \u201cRemarks by Chairman Nakanishi at the Regular Press\nConference,\u201d Jan. 15, 2019.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nshort, he wants the government to do something.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Onagawa Unit 1 to be Decommissioned The Tohoku Electric Power Company submitted a notification of changes to power generation facilities to the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry on December 21, 2018, saying it...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4290"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4320,"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4290\/revisions\/4320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnic.jp\/english\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}