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Kagoshima Prefecture and Satsumasendai City Agree to Sendai NPS Restart
Japan has 48 nuclear reactors with a combined capacity of
4,416 MW, none of which is currently operating. In the lead for
restarts are the Sendai NPS Units 1 & 2 (both PWR, 890 MW) operated
by Kyushu Electric Power Company. The Sendai NPS is located in the city
of Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture.
On October 28, Mayor Hideo Iwakiri of Satsumasendai accepted the city
council’s adoption of an appeal from citizens seeking a restart and
rejection of an appeal by opponents, declaring his agreement with the
restart. On November 7, Governor Yuichiro Ito of Kagoshima Prefecture
similarly accepted the prefectural assembly’s adoption of a petition
for restarting the reactors and declared his agreement.
The construction plans for upgrading safety at the power plant have
been examined and approved by the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA),
so if the facilities pass the official inspection before commercial
operation upon completion of construction work, and if revisions in the
safety regulations being similarly investigated by the NRA are
approved, conditions for reactor restarts will be fulfilled.
Neighboring municipalities, however, have expressed dissatisfaction
with the “local consensus” involving only Kagoshima Prefecture and
Satsumasendai City, and there is deep-rooted opposition to the restarts
among peple in Kagoshima Prefecture and Japan. More twists and turns
are expected in the road to restarting the reactors.
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Two NRA Members Replaced
Two of the five NRA members were replaced on September 19. Akira
Ishiwatari, a former Tohoku University professor, took over for
Kunihiko Shimazaki, professor emeritus of the University of Tokyo, who
was seen as opposing the electric power companies in the assessment of
active fault lines; and Satoru Tanaka, former professor at the
University of Tokyo Graduate School, replaced Kenzo Oshima, former
ambassador to the United Nations. Tanaka is one of the key figures of
the so-called “nuclear village,” so his appointment was decided while
ignoring voices that opposed or questioned the appointment.
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Problems Soon Arise with Monju’s New System
The
Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has launched the new system for the
Monju reactor, holding an inaugural ceremony on October 1 in Tsuruga
City, Fukui Prefecture, where the reactor is located, for the Monju
Planning Research and Development Center. This will be a support
organization for the Monju fast breeder reactor (280 MW) under the
direct control of the director of the JAEA. The “Monju reformation,”
undertaken in response to omissions in equipment inspections, had not
been completed at the time (September 2014) and was delayed for half a
year.
Then, on October 11, a local newspaper in Fukui Prefecture reported
that about one third of the 180 cameras installed around the secondary
sodium coolant pipes were malfunctioning and that nothing had been done
about the problem for over a year and a half. The Nuclear Regulation
Authority determined this to be in violation of safety regulations at
its meeting on October 29. A lack of progress in reforming awareness
has again come to light.
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Tokai Reprocessing Plant to be Permanently Shut Down
On
September 29, the JAEA announced its intention to shut down the Tokai
Reprocessing Plant permanently. To bring the plant into compliance with
new regulatory standards, an additional outlay of more than 100 billion
yen would have been needed, and getting the superannuated facilities to
meet standards was deemed too difficult. The plant had already finished
processing spent commercial nuclear reactor fuel entrusted to it by the
electric power companies by March 2006, and there is no urgency to
process the remaining spent fuel from the Fugen prototype advanced
thermal reactor (currently undergoing decommissioning) that it is
storing at its own facilities. It has the options of entrusting the
work to reprocessing plants overseas or disposing of it directly.
Regarding the Recycle Equipment Test Facility (RETF) for reprocessing
spent fuel from the Monju fast breeder reactor, planned to be built
adjacent to the plant, only the buildings have been completed, so it is
said they will be used for packing vitrified waste into shipping
canisters.
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Completion of Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant Postponed
Japan
Nuclear Fuel, Limited (JNFL) has announced that completion of the
Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant building in Rokkasho-village, Aomori
Prefecture, which it previously extended from December 2013 to October
2014, has been delayed a further year and five months as of the end of
October, to March 2016. In fact, even when only counting the period
after construction began, this is the 18th time completion has been
delayed. Conclusion of a safety agreement with the local municipality
and the beginning of operations was planned for no later than September
2016.
At a press conference on October 30, Kenji Kudo, president of JNFL,
said that there was strong determination to complete the work this
time, but added that uncertainties could not be ruled out.
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Early Decision Sought on Operating Reactors Past 40 Years
As
noted in the previous issue of News Watch, application for restarts of
nuclear reactors exceeding or about to exceed 40 years of age, as
measured from the official inspection prior to commercial operation,
are to be made in April to July 2015.
Prior to that, they must meet the new regulatory standards, and if the
time limit is not kept in mind, the deadline will be exceeded and
approval will be denied. The NRA issued a directive on October 15 to
Japan’s eleven electric power companies that own or are building
nuclear power plants, urging them to hasten their decision on whether
to continue operating or to decommission these reactors. On October 17,
Yuko Obuchi, then Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, requested a
speedy decision from Federation of Electric Power Companies Chairman
Makoto Yagi (also president of Kansai Electric Power Company).
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Interim Waste Storage Bill before the Diet
The Act on Revision
of the Japan Environmental Safety Corporation, which will determine
interim storage facilities for radioactive decontamination waste in
Fukushima Prefecture, was approved at a cabinet meeting on October 3
and submitted to the Diet. The bill calls for changing the name “Japan
Environmental Safety Corporation,” a special company wholly owned by
the government involved in treatment of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)
waste, to “Interim Storage and Environmental Safety Corporation,” which
will handle interim storage of decontamination waste.
It also specifies that the waste will be transported out of the area
within 30 years of the start of the storage and taken to final disposal
facilities.
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Two Bills Related to CSC Approval come before Diet
Two bills related to ratification of the Convention on
Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage (CSC) were approved by
the cabinet on October 24 and submitted to the Diet. One of the bills
is the Act on Supplementary Compensation of Nuclear Damage Upon
Enforcement of the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear
Damage, which would collect funds from nuclear power companies to
enable them to be prepared at any time to cover damages as needed under
the CSC, which requires signatory nations to provide a set amount of
compensation for damages exceeding a certain amount. It is meant to
help cover part of the costs in case an accident occurs in Japan that
requires nuclear power companies to provide compensation for damages.
The other bill is the Act on Partial Revision of the Law on Nuclear
Damages Compensation and the Law on Contracts on Insurance for Nuclear
Damages Compensation. It proposes several revisions for consistency
with the CSC.
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EUR Certification of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ EU-APWR
Mitsubishi
Heavy Industries announced on October 27 that it had had been awarded
European Utility Requirements (EUR) certification for its new
large-size reactor, 1,700 MW EU-APWR, the first time for a Japanese
company to achieve such recognition. The company says it will
strengthen its sales activities in Europe for the 1,100 MW ATMEA-1,
developed by ATMEA, its joint venture with the French company AREVA, as
well as for the large reactors it has developed on its own. It has
already tendered a bid for the Unit 4 reactor at the Olkiluoto NPP in
Finland.
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