information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
18 Décembre 2013
December 18, 2013
Kyodo
Tokyo Electric Power Co. officially declared Wednesday that the two reactors that suffered no major damage at the Fukushima No. 1 plant in the 2011 disaster are defunct, meaning the nation will have only 48 operable commercial reactors.
With this decision, all of the plant’s six reactors will be classified as defunct,” Tepco said in a press release following a meeting of its board. “It is extremely regrettable that we hugely betrayed the local people’s trust due to the accident and are deeply ashamed of ourselves.”
Reactors 5 and 6 will be classified as defunct on Jan. 31, but instead of dismantling them, Tepco may use them as experimental facilities to support the challenging task of scrapping the three reactors that experienced meltdowns and the other one crippled by a hydrogen explosion.
The public has been demanding that Tepco scrap both the Fukushima No. 1 and nearby Fukushima No. 2 plants. The utility has not made clear what it intends to do with the four-reactor Fukushima No. 2 complex, located about 12 km south of the crisis-ridden Fukushima No. 1 facility.
As new accounting rules regarding decommissioning came into force in October, Tepco is likely to avoid booking a large extraordinary charge for the current business year through next March due to a shortfall in funds for decommissioning.
We are currently examining the impact of the latest decision on our accounting,” Tepco said.
After the Fukushima No. 1 plant was hit by the March 11, 2011, magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami, reactors 1, 2 and 3 experienced core meltdowns. And the building housing reactor 4, which did not have fuel inside its core because it was under maintenance, was damaged by a hydrogen explosion.
But reactors 5 and 6, which were also under maintenance at the time of the earthquake, achieved cold shutdowns through the use of an emergency diesel generator that avoided flooding.
Reactors 1 to 4 were deemed defunct in April last year. In September, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the severely damaged nuclear plant and urged Tepco to also scrap reactors 5 and 6 as well, saying the utility should focus more on the crisis cleanup efforts. Just scrapping the crippled reactors alone will take decades, and radiation levels in and around them will remain dangerous at least over that time.
Fukushima No. 1 is Tepco’s first nuclear power station. It started commercial operation in 1971. Electricity supplied by the plant supported the economy after the oil crisis in the 1970s, said Tepco, which serves Tokyo and nearby areas.
Tepco is seeking to bring its remaining Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata Prefecture back online to improve its tough business condition in light of the nuclear crisis.
The utility estimates that if it can restart that plant’s reactors 6 and 7 as planned, it can cut between ¥240 billion and ¥330 billion annually in fuel costs for thermal power generation.
Tepco has been under effective state control after receiving a ¥1 trillion capital injection from a government-backed fund.
TEPCO decides to decommission 2 more reactors
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20131218_35.html
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has officially decided to decommission the facility's 2 reactors that escaped serious damage in the 2011 disaster.
Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, made the decision at its board meeting on Wednesday. Four of the plant's 6 reactors were crippled due to meltdowns or hydrogen explosions in their buildings.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in September urged the utility to decommission the plant's No. 5 and 6 reactors. The 4 others were already being decommissioned.
TEPCO gained approval for the decision from 2 host towns last week. The firm's president Naomi Hirose plans to report on the move to Fukushima Prefecture on Thursday.
The decision means the utility needs at least 260 million dollars more for decommissioning. Part of the additional cost is expected to be passed on to consumers through higher electricity fees.
TEPCO does not plan to immediately dismantle the No. 5 and 6 reactors and their buildings. They are to be used to test technologies and train workers to remove melted fuel and dismantle facilities at the plant's No.1 to 4 reactors.
The utility is moving fuel assemblies from the No. 5 and 6 reactors to cooling pools in their buildings. The work is to be completed by next September.
The company says it will keep a total of more than 3,000 fuel units in the pools for the time being. How to finally dispose of the fuel has yet to be decided.
The decision reduces the number of reactors in Japan that could be restarted to 48. Japan had 54 operating reactors before the disaster.
Dec. 18, 2013 - Updated 10:21 UTC
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20131218p2g00m0dm094000c.html
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Tokyo Electric Power Co. decided at its board meeting Wednesday to permanently shut down two reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant that avoided meltdowns in the 2011 accident, responding to a request by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in September.
The Nos. 5 and 6 reactors, however, will not be dismantled and will be used as research facilities to support the challenging task of scrapping the four other reactors that have suffered core meltdowns or have been affected by hydrogen explosions.
Local calls are strong that TEPCO scrap both the Fukushima Daiichi and the nearby Fukushima Daini plants. But the utility has not made clear what it will do with the four-reactor complex about 12 kilometers to the south.
As new accounting rules regarding decommissioning came into force in October, TEPCO is likely to avoid booking a large extraordinary charge in the business year through March 2014 due to a shortfall in funds for decommissioning.
After the plant was hit by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, the Nos. 1 to 3 reactors suffered meltdowns and the building housing the No. 4 reactor, which did not have fuel inside its core because it was under maintenance, was damaged by a hydrogen explosion.
But the Nos. 5 and 6 reactors, which were also under maintenance at the time of the earthquake, achieved cold shutdowns through the use of an emergency diesel generator that avoided flooding.
The Nos. 1 to 4 reactors were classified as defunct in April last year as TEPCO decided to decommission them, reducing the total number of operable commercial reactors in Japan to 50.
In September this year, Abe visited the stricken plant and urged TEPCO to also scrap the No. 5 and 6 reactors, saying that the utility should focus more on the crisis cleanup efforts.
On the other hand, TEPCO is seeking to bring its remaining Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata Prefecture back online to improve its tough business conditions after the nuclear crisis.
The utility estimates that if it can restart the plant's Nos. 6 and 7 reactors as planned, it can cut between 240 billion yen and 330 billion yen of annual fuel costs for thermal power generation.
TEPCO has been under effective state control after receiving 1 trillion yen in capital injection from a state-backed fund.
/https%3A%2F%2Fassets.over-blog.com%2Ft%2Fcedistic%2Fcamera.png)