Two reactors start using it.
With these reports Idaho Samizdat is pleased to announce the start of posting selected dispatches via NucNet from the World Nuclear Organization.
(NucNet) (Jan 18) The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has given permission for the Tohoku Electric Power Company to use uranium-plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel at Onagawa-3.
The government approval, issued on 8 January 2010, means that up to 228 fuel assemblies at Onagawa-3 will be replaced with MOX fuel assemblies, out of a total of 560.
Onagawa-3, a 796-megawatt unit in Miyagi prefecture on Japan’s eastern coast, is the tenth domestic reactor and the sixth boiling water reactor in Japan to gain approval from the Japanese government for operation with MOX fuel.
Having entered commercial operation in January 2002, Onagawa-3 is also the newest of the 10.
Japan’s Ikata-3 Set To Begin Operation With MOX Fuel
The Ikata-3 pressurized water reactor (PWR) unit in Japan is expected to begin operating next month with mixed uranium-plutonium oxide (MOX) fuel.
The Shikoku Electric Power Company, which operates the three-unit Ikata plant, said unit-3 had been shut down for a periodic inspection on 7 January 2010 and during the outage 50 of the total of 157 fuel assemblies will be replaced with new ones, some of which will be MOX fuel.
The MOX fuel assemblies arrived in Japan from France’s Areva in May 2009.
The fuel was fabricated at the Melox plant in southern France. The process involved recycling plutonium from the treatment of Shikoku’s spent fuel at France’s La Hague plant.
Tomari-3 begin revenue service
The Tomari-3 nuclear reactor unit in Japan has begun commercial operation, making it the country’s 54th commercial nuclear unit.
The 866-megawatt pressurized water reactor began commercial operation at 16:05 local time on 22 December 2009, the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF) said.
The unit, owned and operated by the Hokkaido Electric Power Company, is some 60 kilometers west of Sapporo on the northern island of Hokkaido.
Tomari’s three units are expected to account for about 40 percent of the company’s total generated electricity, JAIF said.
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Unit 7 Back In Commercial Operation After Quake
Unit 7 of Japan’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, which was hit by an earthquake in July 2007, has resumed commercial operation.
The Japan Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF) confirmed the unit has been back in commercial service since 28 December 2009.
In May 2009, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa-7 was temporarily connected to the grid for the first time since the earthquake. In July 2009, procedures began for unit 7 to return to commercial operation following the approval of Japan’s government, the country’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency and the heads of local government in three neighboring areas.
# # #
Idaho Samizdat is a blog about the political and economic aspects of nuclear energy and nonproliferation issues. It covers the nuclear energy industry globally. Additionally, the blog has regional coverage on uranium mining in the western U.S. Link to original post