Oldest reactor's (Tokai) decommissioning rescheduled again

 December 20, 2013

Tokai nuclear power plant’s decommissioning delayed 2nd time

 http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201312200057

By AKIRA HATANO/ Staff Writer

Japan Atomic Power Co. has postponed the decommissioning completion date of the nation’s oldest nuclear reactor by five years, citing issues with equipment to move radioactive waste and the lack of a disposal site for the materials.

The company said Dec. 19 that it would finish decommissioning the Tokai plant in Ibaraki Prefecture by fiscal 2025. It is the second time decommissioning work has been rescheduled.

The single-reactor plant went into service in 1966 as Japan’s first commercial reactor and was closed down in 1998. Its reactor is the nation's first to be dismantled.

Japan Atomic Power told the Nuclear Regulation Authority that its decision to reschedule the decommissioning work was due to a delay in the design of the equipment.

The equipment is supposed to move out a total 1,600 tons of low-level radioactive waste from the reactor building.

The waste, including control rods and graphite moderator, must be buried 50-100 meters below the ground for safe disposal.

However, the disposal site has yet to be decided.

Japan Atomic Power initially expected to begin the six-year decommissioning process in fiscal 2011 under the plan approved in 2006 by the industry ministry.

But the company announced in 2010 that the process would not start until fiscal 2014, citing a delay in the design of this equipment.