ID :
120656
Fri, 05/07/2010 - 10:55
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/120656
The shortlink copeid
Monju nuclear reactor restarts after over 14 years of suspension+
TSURUGA, Japan, May 6 Kyodo - Japan's Monju fast-breeder nuclear reactor resumed operations Thursday after 14 years and five months of suspension due to a sodium coolant leak and a resultant fire.
The prototype reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, restarted at 10:36 a.m.
after plant staff pulled out control rods that had prevented nuclear reaction.
The reactor, operated by the state-run Japan Atomic Energy Agency, is expected
to reach criticality, or the point when a nuclear chain reaction becomes
self-sustaining, on Saturday.
The Monju reactor, with a power output capacity of 280,000 kilowatts, is then
to gradually raise its power output and begin full-fledged operations in the
spring of 2013.
Agency chief Toshio Okazaki and Tsuruga Mayor Kazuharu Kawase were among some
60 people in the plant's central control room at the relaunching ceremony.
Okazaki told a news conference after the relaunch that his agency will place
top priority on maintaining safety.
Kawase said he expects the central government and the plant operator to
maintain transparency and win public trust in the reactor.
In the prefectural capital of Fukui, Fukui Gov. Issei Nishikawa said the Monju
reactor is a key project that will determine the future of the country's energy
policy.
Nishikawa said he hopes the operator will take all possible measures to ensure
safety, reassure residents and perform a careful and steady test run of the
reactor.
In Tokyo, the Citizens' Nuclear Information Center, an antinuclear power group,
demanded that the Japanese government immediately halt the operation of the
reactor and withdraw from the development of fast-breeder reactors.
The group's co-leader Hideyuki Ban said Monju has already lost its significance
as a prototype fast-breeder reactor.
Citizens in Tsuruga, a port city with a population of some 68,000, had mixed
reactions to the relaunch of the reactor. A 61-year-old taxi driver welcomed
the relaunch, which he said would create jobs. But a 79-year-old woman said she
was worried, as the reactor had earlier suffered a series of troubles and
accidents.
Unlike regular light-water reactors that run on uranium, a fast-breeder reactor
uses an oxide mix of plutonium and uranium and is designed to generate more
plutonium than it burns.
The central government aims to complete the development of a commercial
fast-breeder reactor by around 2050.
But a host of obstacles lie ahead, including the need to renovate outmoded
facilities at the plant, and massive safety and development costs.
Construction of Monju started in October 1985. The reactor first achieved
criticality in April 1994. Before building the Monju reactor, Japan constructed
an experimental fast breeder reactor, named Joyo, in Oarai, Ibaraki Prefecture,
which reached criticality in 1977.
The Monju reactor was closed after a serious accident involving a sodium leak
and fire in December 1995. A pipe carrying sodium coolant broke due to
vibration, causing about 640 kilograms of sodium to leak out and come into
contact with the air, sparking a reaction with oxygen and moisture.
Fumes filled the room where the leak occurred, but the sodium was not
radioactive because the accident happened in the plant's secondary cooling
system.
In 2000, the government decided to restart the reactor. But the decision was
met with opposition from a safety-conscious general public, resulting in a
series of court battles.
In January 2003, the Nagoya high court issued a ruling reversing an earlier
decision to approve the construction of the reactor. In May 2005, however, the
Supreme Court reversed the ruling, giving the final go-ahead to the reopening.
While the planned reopening cleared the legal hurdle, resumption was postponed
several times because of delays in repairs.
In January this year, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency completed in-house safety
inspections of the reactor, followed by a green light given by the government's
nuclear safety panel in March.
In late April, the governor of Fukui Prefecture, which hosts the plant,
endorsed the reopening.
Japan spent a total of 920 billion yen on the Monju reactor project between
fiscal 1980 and fiscal 2010, according to the Japan Atomic Energy Agency.
The project requires some 23 billion yen per year in the future.
==Kyodo
2010-05-06 23:14:30
The prototype reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, restarted at 10:36 a.m.
after plant staff pulled out control rods that had prevented nuclear reaction.
The reactor, operated by the state-run Japan Atomic Energy Agency, is expected
to reach criticality, or the point when a nuclear chain reaction becomes
self-sustaining, on Saturday.
The Monju reactor, with a power output capacity of 280,000 kilowatts, is then
to gradually raise its power output and begin full-fledged operations in the
spring of 2013.
Agency chief Toshio Okazaki and Tsuruga Mayor Kazuharu Kawase were among some
60 people in the plant's central control room at the relaunching ceremony.
Okazaki told a news conference after the relaunch that his agency will place
top priority on maintaining safety.
Kawase said he expects the central government and the plant operator to
maintain transparency and win public trust in the reactor.
In the prefectural capital of Fukui, Fukui Gov. Issei Nishikawa said the Monju
reactor is a key project that will determine the future of the country's energy
policy.
Nishikawa said he hopes the operator will take all possible measures to ensure
safety, reassure residents and perform a careful and steady test run of the
reactor.
In Tokyo, the Citizens' Nuclear Information Center, an antinuclear power group,
demanded that the Japanese government immediately halt the operation of the
reactor and withdraw from the development of fast-breeder reactors.
The group's co-leader Hideyuki Ban said Monju has already lost its significance
as a prototype fast-breeder reactor.
Citizens in Tsuruga, a port city with a population of some 68,000, had mixed
reactions to the relaunch of the reactor. A 61-year-old taxi driver welcomed
the relaunch, which he said would create jobs. But a 79-year-old woman said she
was worried, as the reactor had earlier suffered a series of troubles and
accidents.
Unlike regular light-water reactors that run on uranium, a fast-breeder reactor
uses an oxide mix of plutonium and uranium and is designed to generate more
plutonium than it burns.
The central government aims to complete the development of a commercial
fast-breeder reactor by around 2050.
But a host of obstacles lie ahead, including the need to renovate outmoded
facilities at the plant, and massive safety and development costs.
Construction of Monju started in October 1985. The reactor first achieved
criticality in April 1994. Before building the Monju reactor, Japan constructed
an experimental fast breeder reactor, named Joyo, in Oarai, Ibaraki Prefecture,
which reached criticality in 1977.
The Monju reactor was closed after a serious accident involving a sodium leak
and fire in December 1995. A pipe carrying sodium coolant broke due to
vibration, causing about 640 kilograms of sodium to leak out and come into
contact with the air, sparking a reaction with oxygen and moisture.
Fumes filled the room where the leak occurred, but the sodium was not
radioactive because the accident happened in the plant's secondary cooling
system.
In 2000, the government decided to restart the reactor. But the decision was
met with opposition from a safety-conscious general public, resulting in a
series of court battles.
In January 2003, the Nagoya high court issued a ruling reversing an earlier
decision to approve the construction of the reactor. In May 2005, however, the
Supreme Court reversed the ruling, giving the final go-ahead to the reopening.
While the planned reopening cleared the legal hurdle, resumption was postponed
several times because of delays in repairs.
In January this year, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency completed in-house safety
inspections of the reactor, followed by a green light given by the government's
nuclear safety panel in March.
In late April, the governor of Fukui Prefecture, which hosts the plant,
endorsed the reopening.
Japan spent a total of 920 billion yen on the Monju reactor project between
fiscal 1980 and fiscal 2010, according to the Japan Atomic Energy Agency.
The project requires some 23 billion yen per year in the future.
==Kyodo
2010-05-06 23:14:30
