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Mitsubishi Heavy, Hitachi to develop new nuclear reactor for 2030s use

A rendering of a new type of nuclear reactor to be developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. with four major Japanese utilities. (Courtesy of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

September 29, 2022

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and a subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd. will separately develop next-generation nuclear reactors in what could be the first two projects in the government’s recent policy shift to push nuclear energy.

Mitsubishi Heavy said Thursday it will develop with four major Japanese utilities an advanced light-water reactor, a new type of pressurized water reactor, or PWR, deemed safer than existing models, and plan to put it into use in the mid-2030s.

The four power companies — Kansai Electric Power Co., Hokkaido Electric Power Co., Shikoku Electric Power Co. and Kyushu Electric Power Co. — all operate Mitsubishi Heavy reactors at their nuclear plants.

The new reactor, called SRZ-1200, is designed to be more resilient to natural disasters, such as tsunamis and earthquakes, as well as terrorist attacks, Mitsubishi said.

The facility, with an output of about 1.2 million kilowatts, will also enhance equipment to seal off melted nuclear fuel in a containment vessel and prevent or limit radiation leaks in the event of an accident.

Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy Ltd., a Hitachi subsidiary, will also develop an advanced nuclear reactor based on light-water reactor technology for use in the mid-2030s, a person familiar with the matter said Thursday. Hitachi has an 80.01 percent stake in the subsidiary, with the rest owned by General Electric Co.

These plans come as the Japanese government announced in August that it would promote the construction of next-generation nuclear power plants to ensure a stable electricity supply without producing carbon dioxide emissions, in a major reversal from its policy of no new nuclear energy.

Among a variety of next-generation nuclear reactor types, the government plans to prioritize developing advanced light-water reactors as it could utilize existing supply chains, given the technological similarities to PWRs.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno welcomed the news of Mitsubishi Heavy’s project, saying at a press conference, “I hope relevant ministries will consider (helping the development of) next-generation reactors based on research and development activities like this.”

Concerns over the safety of nuclear power generation remain strong in Japan after a massive earthquake and tsunami caused the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in 2011 — the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

Such safety concerns prompted the government to shelve the construction of new nuclear reactors, even as Japanese nuclear regulators set stricter safety regulations after the Fukushima disaster.

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20220929/p2g/00m/0bu/053000c

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October 1, 2022 Posted by | Japan | , , | 2 Comments

Mitsubishi Heavy to develop new nuke reactor with 4 utilities

An artist’s rendering of the advanced light water reactor SRZ-1200 to be jointly developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and four major Japanese power utilities (Provided by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.)

September 30, 2022

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and four major Japanese power utilities will work together to develop a next-generation nuclear reactor that will go online in the 2030s, the company announced on Sept. 29.

The announcement comes as the central government reverses course from its cautious nuclear energy policies set in the aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries plans to develop an advanced light water reactor, an improved version of conventional pressurized water reactors. It will do so jointly with Kansai Electric Power Co., Kyushu Electric Power Co., Shikoku Electric Power Co. and Hokkaido Electric Power Co.

It will be one of the next-generation reactors that the administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is considering promoting, along with other next-generation reactors, alongside rebuilding existing ones.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has been working with the four utilities, which operate pressurized water reactors, to develop new technology to enhance the safety of the reactors.

A Mitsubishi Heavy Industries official said the new reactor will be safer than conventional ones since it will be equipped with a “core catcher,” designed to cool melted reactor cores in the event of a reactor meltdown like the ones at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in March 2011.

The new reactor could also generate 1.2 gigawatts of electricity, equivalent to the capacity of a large nuclear reactor in Japan, according to the official.

But the company has yet to decide which utility will build the planned reactor and where it will be built because of difficulties finding a new construction site amid a strong public distrust toward nuclear reactors.

One potential candidate site is KEPCO’s Mihama nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture, according to a source. The utility is decommissioning the plant’s No. 1 and No. 2 reactors, while more than 40 years have passed since the No. 3 reactor first went online.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has not disclosed the cost to build the new reactor, either.

One estimate suggests the construction of a new nuclear reactor will require 1 trillion yen ($6.91 billion), nearly double the amount spent on building an existing one, due to additional expenses required to comply with stricter safety regulations.

The central government plans to include nuclear reactors in its new support measures to encourage the construction of power plants amid calls from major utilities for financial support.

The government had long maintained that it had no plans to push for the construction of new nuclear reactors or the rebuilding of existing ones in the wake of the 2011 nuclear disaster.

But the Kishida administration changed that policy after energy costs began to soar and the country faced the prospect of a severe power shortage. Kishida said in August that he will consider promoting the development and construction of next-generation rectors with new safety mechanisms.

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14731525

October 1, 2022 Posted by | Japan | , | Leave a comment

Mitsubishi Electric Continues Transformer Performance Fraud through March; Nuclear Plant to Which Transformers Are Shipped Undisclosed.

Some of the transformer products with the problem.
Part of the transformer product with the problem

April 22, 2022
Another problem has come to light at Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, which has been the target of a series of fraudulent product inspections and quality issues. This time, the company has been falsifying test data for transformers used in nuclear power plants and thermal power plants for 40 years. Although the top management resigned and emphasized the prevention of recurrence, the fraud continued until March. The time frame for the completion of the investigation is unclear, and the restoration of trust in the company is far from certain.

　The transformers in question are large and are used in nuclear power plants, thermal power stations, railroad substations, and other facilities. Some of the transformers were falsely labeled with temperatures that exceeded specifications during pre-shipment tests. Although this is an irregularity in important equipment related to the supply of electric power, no press conference has been held, and the supplier has not been disclosed. The company claims that “no immediate malfunctions or accidents will occur” with regard to the safety of its products, but this is difficult to verify from the outside. Some of the transformers are large and expensive, and replacing them could be time-consuming and costly.

　In response to the revelation of irregularities at its Nagasaki Works last June, Mitsubishi Electric set up an investigative committee consisting of outside lawyers in July of last year. Since then, irregularities have been uncovered every month.

　Management was held accountable, and then-President Takeshi Sugiyama resigned in July, and then-Chairman Masaki Kenzan resigned in October. The new president, Kei Urushima, had stated that he would take thorough measures to prevent recurrence and hasten reform of the organizational climate.

　However, the Investigation Committee pointed out that the current…
https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASQ4P7KG4Q4PULFA03D.html?fbclid=IwAR33KXcEK15wfqT4TOcFX-E4c1kpRBXT1uGEjLu2-mpG9s8AeveUAso0XvY

May 1, 2022 Posted by | Japan | , | Leave a comment

Sun setting on Japan’s nuclear export sector

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December 16, 2018
Post-Fukushima cost overruns may kill a giant power project in Turkey, and there are few other deals to replace it
Japan’s nuclear export industry could be dealt a fatal blow if Mitsubishi Heavy Industries pulls out of a massive project to build four large power plants on Turkey’s Black Sea coast, as reports have suggested.
The Sinop plant project in Turkey was seen as Japan’s best chance for an industry – battered and bruised after the 2011 tsunami and triple meltdown at Fukushima – to put together a workable export strategy that did not break the bank of potential international customers.
Aside from Sinop, the Japanese industry has only one viable export project still upcoming: Hitachi’s bid to build two reactors on the island of Anglesey in Britain. And even that deal is looking shaky.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has not pulled the plug yet on its stake in the four-reactor project on Turkey’s Black Sea coast, but a slew of domestic media reports and talk in Tokyo, suggests that, in the face of seemingly ever-rising construction costs to meet new safety standards that have been put in place since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, the company will bail.
Fukushima legacy
When the deal was signed with Ankara in 2013, the ownership profile was: 65% awarded to a consortium made up of MHI, Itochu, France’s Areva, and GDF Suez. The other 35% was covered by Turkey’s electric power utility, Elektrik Uretim.
However, in April, Itochu pulled out of the consortium, citing cost overruns. That left the consortium with 51%, and the remaining 49% owned by the Turkish utility.
Without Mitsubishi the viability of the project is in question, sources say, unless Turkey can find a new partner or is willing to take on the project without its largest foreign partner. The Russians, who are building a nuclear complex on Turkey’s southern Mediterranean coast, might be interested.
According to Kyodo, a thorough cost evaluation was to be completed by the end of this year. Itochu waited for the report to be released before bailing out of the deal. MHI is apparently waiting for the study to be completed before deciding its next move.
When the deal with Mitsubishi was signed in 2013, the estimated cost was $18 billion for four 1,100-megawatt nuclear power plants. But overall costs have soared, passing $42 billion in April – when Itochu withdrew, and is now put at about $44 billion.
Cost increases are nothing new in the nuclear power industry, but have been exacerbated in recent years by expensive adjustments phased in to meet more stringent safety concerns following the earthquake and tsunami that destroyed four units of the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The Sinop cost rises, however, also encompass other problems encountered in construction.
Fukushima, one of the most serious nuclear accidents in history, turned most of Japan against nuclear power. Before March 11, 2011, Japan had 54 nuclear plants. All were shut down after the accident and some are slowly returning to service having passed scrutiny by the regulator. Five are expected to restart within the next five years, and eight will likely be decommissioned. But prospects for the remaining plants are unclear.
Aware that no new nuclear plant may ever be built at home amid the anti-atomic public mood, Japan’s nuclear vendors have turned to overseas exports as the Fukushima accident does not appear to have destroyed the Japanese industry brand in other countries.
Endgame for nuclear exports?
If Mitsubishi does pull out of the huge project in Turkey it will be a blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who sees international exports of nuclear technology as an important way to boost the economy. On his many trips abroad, he often acts as a salesman for nuclear exports. For example, it was a topic of discussion with Turkish President Recep Erdogan on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting in Argentina.
Details of the conversation were not revealed, but it would be a good bet that they discussed the Sinop project with the threat of Mitsubishi hanging over them, and that Abe sought ways to keep the project viable.
Meanwhile, it is not just MHI that may have doubts about the sector. Japan’s nuclear export industry has suffered plenty of setbacks in the seven years since Fukushima. Questions about the future of the sector hang over all three main players in the sector.
Toshiba, one of Japan’s big-three nuclear constructors, recently pulled out of the nuclear power business overseas after incurring huge losses in the United States.
Toshiba has also suffered something of an administrative meltdown in its quest to win construction contracts in the US. In February it finally unloaded it money-losing American subsidiary, Westinghouse, for $1 billion less than it paid to acquire the company 10 years ago.
If the export program is to remain viable, it may be in Wales, where the British government is seeking to build a two-reactor nuclear power plant on the island of Anglesey. Among those bidding for the project is Japan’s third nuclear constructor, Hitachi, through a subsidiary called Horizon Nuclear.
In the nuclear world, there are constructors – like MHI, Toshiba and Hitachi – and operators, who run the plant after it is completed, and they are not always the same. Japan learned from Korea’s successful bid to build six nuclear plants in the United Arab Emirates that offering to build and also run them – a one-stop service – is key to making sales.
Hitachi is teaming up with the Japan Atomic Power Company, which operates two plants in Japan (although both are currently shut down pending the review by regulators). The plan is to present the British with a package deal.
Now, there are worries that Hitachi might pull out of the British project. Chairman Hiroaka Nakanishi was quoted in the Times of London saying his company was “facing an extreme situation,” and that a final decision on whether to stay with the project or leave it will be made next year.
If Mitsubishi does, as is widely expected, pull out of the huge project in Turkey, the only egg left in Japan’s overseas nuclear export basket will be Wales.
http://www.atimes.com/article/sun-setting-on-japans-nuclear-export-sector/

December 20, 2018 Posted by | Japan | , , , | Leave a comment

Japan’s Kansai Electric used possibly falsified Mitsubishi Materials products at reactors

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Kansai Electric Power Co said on Wednesday it has used parts in important safety equipment at two of its nuclear plants that were supplied by a unit of Mitsubishi Materials Corp with possibly falsified data.
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TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Kansai Electric Power Co said on Wednesday it has used parts in important safety equipment at two of its nuclear plants that were supplied by a unit of Mitsubishi Materials Corp with possibly falsified data.
Mitsubishi Materials Corp. President Akira Takeuchi (2nd R) bows with Executive Vice President Naoki Ono (2nd L), Mitsubishi Shindoh Co. President Kazumasa Hori (L) and Mitsubishi Cable Industries Ltd. President Hiroaki Murata during a news conference in Tokyo, Japan November 24, 2017.
The utility has found it is using rubber seals from Mitsubishi Cable Industries with possible falsified specifications in dozens of locations at its Takahama and Ohi nuclear plants, a spokesman said, confirming Japanese media reports.
The discovery comes after Kansai Electric delayed the restart of one of the nuclear power stations because it needs to make checks on parts supplied by Japan’s Kobe Steel Ltd, which, like Mitsubishi Materials, is embroiled in a scandal over product specifications.
The utility has told Japan’s nuclear regulator that it has not found any immediate safety issues, the spokesman said.
Kansai Electric receives rubber seals from multiple suppliers and is having difficulties identifying which ones come from Mitsubishi Materials, he said. The company does not plan to switch suppliers, the spokesman said.
Rubber seals are used in large numbers in the extensive piping found in nuclear reactors and their cooling systems and can be subject to high temperatures and pressure.
Mitubishi Materials and Mitsubishi Cable both declined to comment on Wednesday.
Mitsubishi Materials previously said it had discovered that products with falsified specifications had been sent to more than 300 of its customers.
That was the latest in a slew of scandals to rock Japan’s manufacturing industry. Apart from Kobe Steel, similar lapses on specifications have been found at Toray Industries Inc and incorrect final inspection procedures were discovered by automakers Nissan Motor Co and Subaru Corp.
Kansai Electric’s delays and checks on Ohi reactors are further hitches to the protracted reboot of Japan’s nuclear sector, shut down in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in 2011.
Kansai Electric does not plan to close down the Takahama station for checks, or expect any additional delays on the restart of Ohi, the spokesman said.

December 21, 2017 Posted by | Japan | , , , , | Leave a comment

Mitsubishi Heavy, Japan Nuclear Fuel to invest in France’s Areva

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Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. is reportedly making final arrangements to invest tens of billions of yen in French atomic energy company Areva jointly with Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. are making final arrangements to invest tens of billions of yen in atomic energy company Areva, which is being bailed out by the French government, sources close to the matter said Thursday.

Through the investment, the heavy machinery manufacturer and the spent-fuel reprocessing firm hope to improve technical cooperation with Areva on decommissioning reactors and reprocessing nuclear fuel.

Areva has been reeling from weak global demand since the 2011 Fukushima disaster triggered a slump in the nuclear power industry.

Areva is being bailed out by the French government, which has been asking Mitsubishi Heavy to invest since last year.

MHI President Shunichi Miyanaga had said that investing in Areva, which has expertise in decommissioning procedures and fuel reprocessing, would benefit Japan as it faces the prospect of decommissioning more aging nuclear reactors amid high public concern over nuclear safety.

A major Chinese nuclear power company is also considering investing in the state-owned group.

Mitsubishi Heavy is also planning to invest in Areva’s plant-building arm in hopes of winning orders to build nuclear power plants in emerging economies where demand is growing.

The heavy machinery maker and Areva are already involved in a joint venture to develop nuclear plants with advanced reactors.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/12/08/business/corporate-business/mitsubishi-heavy-japan-nuclear-fuel-invest-frances-areva/#.WEtA0Vzia-d

December 9, 2016 Posted by | Japan | , , , | Leave a comment

Japan Nuclear Industry on the Defensive

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METI proposed that TEPCO would start a subsidiary to manage all its nuclear plants. Saying it would facilitate restarting the reactors at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa NPP, as since the beginning of the Tepco-owned Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant disaster the government planned to use profits from the Tepco-owned Kashiwazaki-Kariwa NPP to finance the Fukushima Daiichi disaster costs;  and that it would also encourage collaboration among other utilities nuclear power plants, and make merger or sale easier. METI thinks such change would also encourage the public to support nuclear reactors restarting.

As the total decommissionning costs could double, Tepco would also like the rules to be changed so as not take an added large loss on their books.

One day later Hitachi announced that they consider merging their nuclear business with Toshiba and Mistubishi.

These recent new developments show Japan nuclear industry on the defensive, former PM Koizumi warned the Liberal Democratic Party could lose the next election if it focuses on the nuclear power issue.

https://dunrenard.wordpress.com/2016/10/29/industry-ministry-unveils-plan-to-split-nuclear-power-division-from-tepco/

October 30, 2016 Posted by | Japan | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment