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As Japan's sodium cooled fast reactor decommissioning nears reality, local politicians lash out
As Monju decommissioning nears reality, Fukui politicians lash out
BY ERIC JOHNSTON
SEP 15, 2016
OSAKA – News that the central government is finalizing plans to decommission the Monju fast-breeder reactor in Fukui Prefecture has sparked anger and fear among local politicians about what will happen to their economy, and could make Fukui’s cooperation in restarting other reactors more complicated.
In Tsuruga, where Monju is located, Mayor Takanobu Fuchikami said last week that decommissioning would hugely impact the local economy. Tsuruga receives government subsidies for hosting the plant and has a service industry that derives much of its income from officials, engineers, and others who visit the facility.
...
The Japan Atomic Energy Agency, which manages Monju, estimates decommissioning will cost more than ¥300 billion and take 30 years to complete. Currently, it costs about ¥20 billion a year to maintain the idled plant.
Additional costs, which are unknown, include the cost of shipping Monju’s spent fuel and radioactive waste to a mid-term storage facility. No such facility exists and there are no plans to build one anytime soon.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/09/15/national/monju-decommissioning-nears-reality-fukui-politicians-lash/#.V9w70jth2Rs
BY ERIC JOHNSTON
SEP 15, 2016
OSAKA – News that the central government is finalizing plans to decommission the Monju fast-breeder reactor in Fukui Prefecture has sparked anger and fear among local politicians about what will happen to their economy, and could make Fukui’s cooperation in restarting other reactors more complicated.
In Tsuruga, where Monju is located, Mayor Takanobu Fuchikami said last week that decommissioning would hugely impact the local economy. Tsuruga receives government subsidies for hosting the plant and has a service industry that derives much of its income from officials, engineers, and others who visit the facility.
...
The Japan Atomic Energy Agency, which manages Monju, estimates decommissioning will cost more than ¥300 billion and take 30 years to complete. Currently, it costs about ¥20 billion a year to maintain the idled plant.
Additional costs, which are unknown, include the cost of shipping Monju’s spent fuel and radioactive waste to a mid-term storage facility. No such facility exists and there are no plans to build one anytime soon.
From The Asahi Shimbun
EDITORIAL: Monju has run its course and should now be scrapped
September 15, 2016 at 14:55 JST
The government is assessing what to do about the Monju prototype fast-breeder nuclear reactor, with one option being to decommission the trouble-prone facility.
It should decide swiftly to scrap the experimental reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture.
Monju has remained mostly idle for the past two decades or so. Restarting it would be hugely expensive. Putting the necessary safety measures in place would require an outlay of hundreds of billions of yen. The obvious solution is staring the government in the face.
Monju was designed to underpin a nuclear fuel recycling program in which plutonium extracted from reprocessed spent nuclear fuel is burned in a fast-breeder reactor. The ability to generate more fissile material than is consumed was regarded as “dream” technology.
But Monju has been mostly offline since a sodium coolant leak accident in 1995.
In 2012, it was revealed that safety maintenance checks had missed about 10,000 pieces of equipment. In response, the Nuclear Regulation Authority halted preparations to bring the reactor back online. It urged the science and technology minister last November to find a new operator for the reactor in place of the government-backed Japan Atomic Energy Agency.
The science and technology ministry...
http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201609150039.html
EDITORIAL: Monju has run its course and should now be scrapped
September 15, 2016 at 14:55 JST
The government is assessing what to do about the Monju prototype fast-breeder nuclear reactor, with one option being to decommission the trouble-prone facility.
It should decide swiftly to scrap the experimental reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture.
Monju has remained mostly idle for the past two decades or so. Restarting it would be hugely expensive. Putting the necessary safety measures in place would require an outlay of hundreds of billions of yen. The obvious solution is staring the government in the face.
Monju was designed to underpin a nuclear fuel recycling program in which plutonium extracted from reprocessed spent nuclear fuel is burned in a fast-breeder reactor. The ability to generate more fissile material than is consumed was regarded as “dream” technology.
But Monju has been mostly offline since a sodium coolant leak accident in 1995.
In 2012, it was revealed that safety maintenance checks had missed about 10,000 pieces of equipment. In response, the Nuclear Regulation Authority halted preparations to bring the reactor back online. It urged the science and technology minister last November to find a new operator for the reactor in place of the government-backed Japan Atomic Energy Agency.
The science and technology ministry...
Accident at the Monju fast breeder reactor
SEPTEMBER 3, 2010
The Japanese Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) disclosed details of an accident that happened on August 26, 2010 at the Monju fast breeder reactor (here is the original JAEA letter). As described in the press, the accident involved a 3-tonne "fuel-replacement device" falling into the reactor vessel when being removed after a scheduled fuel replacement operation. According to JAEA, the accident may result in a delay in bringing the reactor back into operation, since the device may have damaged the reactor vessel wall.
The Monju reactor was restarted on May 6, 2010, after a 15-year shutdown that followed a major sodium leak and fire. As IPFM reported at the time, the decision to restart the reactor was quite controversial, with citizen groups and newspapers opposing the move.
http://fissilematerials.org/blog/2010/09/accident_at_the_monju_fas.html
SEPTEMBER 3, 2010
The Japanese Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) disclosed details of an accident that happened on August 26, 2010 at the Monju fast breeder reactor (here is the original JAEA letter). As described in the press, the accident involved a 3-tonne "fuel-replacement device" falling into the reactor vessel when being removed after a scheduled fuel replacement operation. According to JAEA, the accident may result in a delay in bringing the reactor back into operation, since the device may have damaged the reactor vessel wall.
The Monju reactor was restarted on May 6, 2010, after a 15-year shutdown that followed a major sodium leak and fire. As IPFM reported at the time, the decision to restart the reactor was quite controversial, with citizen groups and newspapers opposing the move.
http://fissilematerials.org/blog/2010/09/accident_at_the_monju_fas.html
For a background of Japan's breeder program, see the IPFM report Fast Breeder Reactor Programs: History and Status.
http://fissilematerials.org/library/rr08.pdf
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