[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Fugen thermal reactor shut down, no commercial prospects
Index:
Fugen thermal reactor shut down, no commercial prospects
Pakistan says U.S. bans supplies for nuclear plant
Bulgaria court annuls EU deal on atomic reactor
Japan Nuclear plant tours halted due to terror fears
Hiranuma seeks resumption of reactors to avoid power shortage
NRC sends inspection team to CMS nuke power plant
Feds Eye Nuke Plant's Anti-Terror Plant
=============================================
Fugen thermal reactor shut down, no commercial prospects
TSURUGA, Japan, March 29 (Kyodo) - The state-run Japan Nuclear Cycle
Development Institute permanently shut down the Fugen prototype advanced
thermal reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, on Saturday with no prospects for the
Japan-made technologies to be put into commercial use.
The institute, the operator of the reactor that first attained criticality in March 1978
and began full-fledged operations a year later, said Fugen will move into
decommissioning.
It said dismantling the reactor will take 25 years and cost about 100 billion yen.
The reactor, located in a nuclear facility on the Sea of Japan coast, ended operations
at 2:27 p.m. Saturday in line with an earlier schedule to shut down in 2003.
About 360 billion yen was used to build and operate the reactor, with research and
development costs totaling another 92.5 billion yen.
The 165,000-kilowatt reactor, an original Japanese prototype of the advanced
thermal reactor, generated a total of some 22 billion kw-hours and generated
revenues worth some 206.5 billion yen, according to the institute.
It had been designed to develop domestic-made technologies to complete a nuclear
fuel recycling system in Japan using uranium and plutonium extracted from nuclear
waste from itself and other reactors.
But the prototype was shut down without the commercial-use prospects for the
advanced thermal reactor technologies as a project to build the next-stage
experimental reactor in Aomori Prefecture was revoked in 1995 due to high costs.
Instead, Japan has promoted projects to use uranium-plutonium mixed oxide (MOX)
fuel at ordinary light-water reactors.
Fugen was characterized for its use of MOX fuel and the use of heavy water as a
moderator that facilitates nuclear fission.
It used a total of 772 units of MOX fuel containing 1.85 tons of plutonium. The
amount of the fuel makes up a fifth of all MOX fuel that has been used in the world
and the reactor was the one that consumed the world's largest amount of MOX fuel,
according to the institute.
Fugen was shut down in April last year after an increase was detected in the
radioactive density of the coolant water. The reactor resumed full operations in late
June that year.
--------------------
Pakistan says U.S. bans supplies for nuclear plant
ISLAMABAD, March 30 (Reuters) - Pakistan said the United States has imposed a
two-year ban on supplies for its Kahuta nuclear Research Laboratory, but said the
move would not hurt its nuclear programme, the official APP news agency said on
Sunday.
"The measures...were unjustified," the APP quoted a foreign office statement saying.
The ministry said the facility, southeast of Islamabad, had never depended on foreign
assistance and the U.S. decision had no material impact on the country's
determination to pursue its missile programme.
Pakistan and India, locked in a military standoff that brought them close to war last
year, tested nuclear-capable missiles last week.
Officials from the U.S. embassy and Pakistan's Foreign Ministry were not available
for comment and it was not immediately clear what nuclear assistance the United
States had given prior to the ban.
Pakistan sees its nuclear capability as a key deterrent to India, which with it has
fought three wars, two over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
The two neighbours conducted tit-for-tat tests of nuclear devices in 1998.
Pakistani officials said they believed the ban was in reponse to allegations Pakistan
had traded nuclear technology or equipment with North Korea, a charge Islamabad
denies.
-------------------
Bulgaria court annuls EU deal on atomic reactor
SOFIA, March 28 (Reuters) - Bulgaria's supreme court annulled on Friday a
government deal with the European Union to close down two Soviet-designed
nuclear reactors by 2006 -- a move that may delay Sofia's entry talks with the bloc.
Late last year, the pro-western government agreed to a demand from Brussels to
shut number three and four reactors at the Kozloduy nuclear power plant to avoid
derailing accession talks with the EU and achieve its entry target of 2007.
Rejecting a government appeal, an expanded panel of the Supreme Administrative
Court upheld its January ruling that the agreement ignored a vote in parliament,
which decreed the reactors should be kept working until Sofia's entry into the EU.
A government spokesman declined comment on how the court's ruling, which is
final, would affect accession negotiations.
But local lawyers have said declaring the deal invalid would mean the Balkan state
should open energy talks with the EU again, potentially hampering its goal to
conclude EU entry talks by in 2004.
Brussels wants the reactors shut in 2006 for safety reasons. The plant produces
nearly half of Bulgaria's electricity and their closure would raise power prices that are
already a big burden for impoverished Bulgarians.
The opposition Socialists, who had asked the court to annul Sofia's agreement with
the EU, have branded the government's position on the reactor's closure a national
betrayal.
Sofia shut Kozloduy's first two oldest reactors at the end of December last year to
please Brussels. The plant's more modern reactors five and six will stay open.
-------------------
Japan Nuclear plant tours halted due to terror fears
TOKYO, March 28 (Kyodo) - Many nuclear power plants nationwide are choosing to
halt public tours of the plants and related facilities as a precaution against possible
terrorist attacks following the launch of the U.S.-led war on Iraq.
According to data compiled by Kyodo News as of Friday, 14 of the 16 commercial
nuclear power plants operating nationwide had stopped tours inside their facilities
since the war started on March 20.
The Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute has also halted indoor tours at an
experimental reactor facility, the Monju fast-breeder nuclear reactor, as well as fuel
reprocessing facilities in the prefectures of Ibaraki and Fukui.
Kyushu Electric Power Co. is still holding tours at two nuclear plants, but is restricting
them to viewing from the outside, with visitors forbidden to see the key facilities such
as the reactor and turbine.
Halting the tours is a big blow for the power companies which, hit by a series of
scandals such as the concealment of defects at nuclear plants, have been trying to
regain public trust through the tours, industry sources said.
-----------------
Hiranuma seeks resumption of reactors to avoid power shortage
TOKYO, March 28 (Kyodo) - Industry minister Takeo Hiranuma indicated Friday he
will seek the resumption of suspended nuclear reactors to avoid power shortages in
the summer.
Hiranuma, head of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, said, ''Winning
understanding from local residents will be a basic premise'' for resuming operation of
the reactors shut down for safety checks following a cover-up scandal.
''I will visit the areas and explain to local residents if necessary,'' Hiranuma said.
Fourteen of 17 reactors in Niigata and Fukushima prefectures operated by Tokyo
Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) have been suspended for checkups following the
discovery last August that the company covered up reactor defects, such as
fractures.
The remaining reactors are also scheduled to be shut down by mid-April for safety
checks.
TEPCO said it could face a capacity shortfall of 9.5 million kilowatts of electricity in
the summer if the metropolitan area is hit by a heat wave and if all the reactors
remain closed.
The 17 reactors, which generate a combined 17 million kilowatts, provide 40% of the
electric power needs of Tokyo and its vicinity.
------------------
NRC sends inspection team to CMS nuke power plant
WASHINGTON, March 27 (Reuters) - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it
has sent inspectors to look into two recent electrical problems at the Palisades
nuclear power plant located in Covert, Michigan.
The 789-megawatt plant, owned by CMS Energy Corp's <CMS.N> Consumers
Energy subsidiary, lost on Tuesday its connection to offsite electrical power sources.
The plant's two emergency diesel generators started automatically to supply
electricity to important plant safety systems.
The plant's diesel generators continue to supply power while the utility investigates
the cause of the loss of offsite power and makes necessary repairs, the NRC said in
a statement late on Wednesday.
"Both diesel generators are operating, although one is sufficient to supply power to
the reactor shutdown cooling system and other safety equipment," the agency said.
The plant has been shut down since March 16 for refueling.
The NRC inspectors will also look into an March 18 incident when a circuit breaker at
the plant failed and caused a fire that was confined to the circuit breaker. There were
no injuries caused by the fire.
The agency has sent three inspectors from its Illinois regional office to the plant, who
will be assisted by the two resident inspectors assigned to the Palisades plant.
Both problems led to an "Alert" being declared by plant's operator under its
emergency plan. An Alert is the second lowest of four emergency classifications.
The NRC said its report on the problems at the plant will be posted on the agency's
Web site about 30 days after the inspectors finish their work.
------------------
Feds Eye Nuke Plant's Anti-Terror Plan
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) - Emergency plans for the Indian Point nuclear power
plants should consider the threat of simultaneous terrorist attacks on the reactors
and the surrounding area, a federal agency said.
Otherwise, however, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it mostly
approved of the current evacuation plans for the region, saying they account for
several ``worst-case scenarios'' such as quick releases of radiation and airplane
crashes at the plants.
The report, released Thursday, was requested by Rep. Sue Kelly, R-N.Y., whose
district includes the twin power plants in Buchanan, 35 miles from Times Square.
Since the terror attacks on the World Trade Center, the plants have been seen as a
potential terrorist target. Some residents fear attackers might also take out the
bridges or roads that would normally serve as escape routes.
A report by former FEMA Director James Lee Witt concluded in January that
planning was inadequate, and local and state authorities cited it in refusing to certify
emergency plans as up-to-date.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Richard Meserve said Witt's report
``appears to give undue weight to the impact of potential acts of terrorism,'' but Kelly
and hundreds of other officials want the plants shut down until evacuation questions
are put to rest.
FEMA is now trying to get enough information from the state and counties to decide
on its own whether the plans are adequate. It has set a May 2 deadline for
cooperation. Otherwise, it will report to the NRC - which can shut down a plant
without an adequate emergency plan - that it cannot assure the public's health and
safety.
***************************************************************
Sandy Perle
Director, Technical
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service
ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Tel: (714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100 Extension 2306
Fax: (714) 668-3149
E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net
Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com/
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com/
************************************************************************
You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,
send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu Put the text "unsubscribe
radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.
You can view the Radsafe archives at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/