40 tons of new spent fuel to store

 August 3, 2015

Restart of Sendai reactors will result in 40 tons of spent fuel

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/08/03/national/restart-of-sendai-reactors-will-result-in-40-tons-of-spent-fuel/#.Vb8ia_nwmos

JIJI

If the two idle reactors at Kyushu Electric Power Co.’s Sendai nuclear power plant in Kagoshima Prefecture are reactivated as anticipated, the plant will have to store around 40 tons of new spent fuel.

gh the plant’s storage capacity is unlikely to be filled in the near future, the amount will constantly increase until a final fuel disposal facility is built.

The Kagoshima Prefectural Government has nixed building the disposal facility in the prefecture.

To get back online, the two reactors need to each use 44 of their total 157 fuel assemblies, Kyushu Electric officials said.

Kyushu Electric Power hopes to restart one of the reactors, which have met the Nuclear Regulation Authority’s new safety standards, by next Monday at the earliest, and the other in October.

According to the Natural Resources and Energy Agency, the plant’s capacity for storing spent fuel is 1,290 tons. The restart of the reactors will push the amount in storage from 890 tons, or 69 percent of capacity, to 940 tons, or around 73 percent.

In related news Monday, Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. said radiation detectors have broken down at its spent fuel reprocessing plant in the village of Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture.

According to JNFL and other sources, the two systems for detecting leaks of high-level radioactive liquid waste stopped after an alarm went off around 6:50 p.m. Sunday.

The plant, designed to extract uranium and plutonium from spent fuel, has yet to be completed. It is a key component of the national nuclear fuel cycle project.

Officials at JNFL, the operator of the plant, said they believe no leak has occurred because water levels of the liquid waste were unchanged.

The operator also found problems with pressure gauges at the plant around 8:30 p.m. Sunday.

JNFL is investigating the link between these troubles and lightning reported in nearby areas at that time.

The company aims to complete the plant next March. The facility is currently undergoing an NRA safety screening.