Monju nuclear power plant

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Monju nuclear power plant
Monju nuclear power plant
Monju nuclear power plant
location
Monju Nuclear Power Plant (Fukui Prefecture)
Monju nuclear power plant
Coordinates 35 ° 44 '25 "  N , 135 ° 59' 17"  E Coordinates: 35 ° 44 '25 "  N , 135 ° 59' 17"  E
Country: Japan
Data
Owner: Japan Atomic Energy Agency
Operator: Japan Atomic Energy Agency
Project start: 1983
Commercial operation: Aug 29, 1995
Shutdown: 22nd September 2016

Decommissioned reactors (gross):

1 (operating license revoked) (280 MW)
Website: The nuclear power plant on the operator's side (Japanese)
Was standing: 22nd September 2016
The data source of the respective entries can be found in the documentation .
f1

The Monju nuclear power plant ( Japanese ん じ ゅ ) is a now decommissioned fast breeder reactor located in the city of Tsuruga in Fukui Prefecture . The reactor was the only fast breeder in Japan . Monju is named after the Japanese name of the Bodhisattva of wisdom Manjushri . The plant is owned by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency . Construction began in 1985 and commissioning took place in autumn 1994.

Monju had a sodium-cooled reactor with mixed oxide fuel elements (MOX for short) and three primary cooling circuits that worked in the so-called loop system . The power plant had a net electrical output of 246 MW net (280 MW gross).

The reactor was in operation for a total of 250 days between 1995 and 2010. After 2 accidents in 1995 and 2010, his operating license was withdrawn. After a sodium leak, Monju was out of service from December 8, 1995 to May 6, 2010. 45 days after recommissioning, equipment for fuel loading fell into the reactor vessel. In 2018, the Japanese nuclear authority approved the dismantling. This should last at least 30 years and cost at least 375 billion yen (the equivalent of 3 billion euros).

history

In 2006 consideration was given to building a larger successor reactor by 2025. The government's goal was the commercial use of breeder technology by 2050.

On September 21, 2016, the Japanese government decided to shut down and dismantle the reactor. According to government data, further maintenance would have cost up to five billion euros (500 billion yen).

The shutdown was reported on December 21, 2016. At the same time, the further development of the fast breeder technology with the older Joyo research reactor in Japan and a cooperation with France is to be maintained.

business

Sodium accident 1995

On December 8, 1995 - Monju had only been on the grid for about three months - there was a serious incident in the nuclear reactor : due to strong turbulence, a pipe in the secondary sodium coolant circuit leaked into a measuring point at which the temperature was measured with a thermocouple Leak. A large amount of sodium - an estimated 700 kg to 3,000 kg - leaked. As an alkali metal , sodium reacts violently and with strong heat development, among other things with oxygen and humidity. Under corrosive vapors and temperatures of several hundred degrees Celsius, some of the steel- made parts of the system began to melt in the affected room.

At 7:30 p.m. the alarm was triggered and the automatic control of the reactor was deactivated. However, it was not until 9:00 p.m. before the fumes were detected and a complete shutdown of the facility was ordered. When the leak was examined, more than three tons of solid sodium were found.

Since the accident occurred in the secondary cooling circuit, the leaked sodium was not radioactive. The semi-state operating company of the Monju reactor, the Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation (PNC for short, today: Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute ), nevertheless tried to cover up the extent of the incident, among other things by publishing false reports one after the other Changed the video recorded in the accident and made employees confidential about the existence of the unadulterated video. However, these attempts became public; and the resulting public reaction was violent. The mirror wrote:

“When the manipulation was exposed, the mood against radiation technology in the Japanese population turned. The breeder operators, complained the then socialist head of government Tomiichi Marayama [sic!], 'Have destroyed their relationship of trust with the public'. "

In January 1996, Shigeo Nishimura, a chief department head of the breeder operating company PNC, fell from a high-rise. He felt that he had failed to convince the public of the necessity of the fast breeders after the biggest accident in Japanese nuclear history.

When the Japanese Atomic Energy Commission announced on November 24, 2000 that it would restart the Monju reactor, there was renewed public outcry and a series of lawsuits attempted to prevent it from being restarted. On January 27, 2003, a court in Kanazawa , a branch of Nagoya High Court , overturned its previous 1983 decision allowing the reactor to be built. However, the Japanese Supreme Court ruled on May 30, 2005 that the Monju reactor may be allowed to go back into operation.

In spring 2008, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) approved the last safety report that was necessary for the plant to be brought back into operation.

Further incidents

Several defective sodium leak detectors were discovered in March and April 2008, which resulted in an inspection order by NISA and again questioning the restart.

Test operations were resumed on May 6, 2010, and regular operation should begin in 2013. Even before criticality was reached, a faulty gas leak detector was discovered during restart. The Nihon Genshiryoku Kenkyū Kaihatsu Kikō (German "Japanese Atomic Energy Research and Development Organization"; English Japan Atomic Energy Agency ; translation of the English translation: Japanese Atomic Energy Agency) continued operations as planned, as the faulty device was replaced by two redundant systems becomes.

Another accident occurred on August 26, 2010 when a 3-tonne device for filling fuel fell onto the reactor vessel and damaged it. On June 24, 2011, workers managed to recover the device. It was therefore for a long time uncertain when the reactor could be restarted.

The Fukushima nuclear disaster (which started in March 2011) fundamentally changed the attitudes of the population and the government towards nuclear energy. (see nuclear phase-out, section 'Japan' ).

The supervisory authority Genshiryoku Kisei Iinkai (NRA) prohibited a restart in May 2013 because the JAEO had not adequately checked 11,000 plant components and earth fault lines were found under the plant.

Data of the reactor block

Reactor block Reactor type net
power 		gross
power 		start of building Network
synchronization 		switching off
processing
Monju Fast breeder reactor 246 MW 280 MW 05/10/1986 08/29/1995 Long-term standstill since December 8, 1995. September 21 and December 21, 2016 Decommissioning decisions.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Performance data in the IAEA's Power Reactor Information System (English)
  2. ↑ a b Japanese NRA approves Monju nuclear plant's decommissioning plan . In: Enerydata , March 30, 2018. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
  3. ^ New fast breeder reactor for Japan. In: Nuclear Engineering International. June 6, 2006, archived from the original on March 19, 2012 ; accessed on August 6, 2016 .
  4. ↑ Japan to scrap troubled Y1 trillion Monju fast-breeder reactor. (No longer available online.) In: newsonjapan.com. Archived from the original on September 22, 2016 ; accessed on September 22, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / newsonjapan.com
  5. ↑ Japan announces the Monju nuclear power plant project on orf.at, December 21, 2016, accessed December 21, 2016.
  6. ↑ a b Phoenix in the ashes . In: Der Spiegel . No. 6 , 1997 ( online ).
  7. ^ Nuclear energy: World report 2008. (PDF) German Atomic Forum , April 2009, p. 251 , archived from the original on January 7, 2012 ; Retrieved October 25, 2009 .
  8. ↑ Monju reactor's future uncertain / Spate of problems likely to doom Oct. target for restart of operations. In: Daily Yomiuri Online. April 11, 2008, archived from the original on April 17, 2008 ; accessed on August 9, 2016 .
  9. ^ Receipt of the inspection plan for sodium leak detectors in Prototype FBR Monju. In: NISA. April 14, 2008, archived from the original on July 12, 2010 ; accessed on August 6, 2016 .
  10. ↑ Japan's only fast breeder is up and running again . Spiegel Online , May 6, 2010
  11. ↑ Monju's restart hit by faulty gas detector. In: The Japan Times . May 7, 2010, archived from the original on July 15, 2012 ; accessed on August 9, 2016 .
  12. ^ Accident at the Monju fast breeder reactor. In: fissilematerials.org. September 3, 2010, accessed June 19, 2011 .
  13. ^ Workers Remove Device From Damaged Japanese Reactor. In: nytimes.com. June 25, 2011, archived from the original on September 5, 2012 ; accessed on August 9, 2016 .
  14. ↑ NRA wants Monju to remain shut down . Japan Times, May 14, 2013
  15. ↑ Japan before the election Abe and the atom . FAZ.net , July 18, 2013