Monju Reactor « nuclear-news

Monju fast-breeder reactor operator insiders say project is a failure: survey

The Monju prototype fast-breeder nuclear reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, is pictured in this file photo taken from a Mainichi helicopter on Oct. 7, 2015

Employees of the operator of the troubled Monju prototype fast-breeder nuclear reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, which the government may decommission, say that the reactor is a failure or criticize the project in other ways, according to a labor union survey.

A survey conducted by one of the labor unions representing workers at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), the results of which the Mainichi Shimbun has obtained, shows that over half of the respondents said the government should consider decommissioning the trouble-plagued reactor.

The JAEA was founded in 2005 through a merger between the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute (JNC) and the Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corp. (PNC). There are two labor unions within the JAEA — the Japan Atomic Energy Labor Union (JAELU) comprised mainly of those who worked at PNC and Genken Roso mainly representing those employed by JNC.

Genken Roso conducted the latest survey on all 234 members between December last year and January this year after the Nuclear Regulation Authority advised the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology last November to consider replacing JAEA with another body as the operator of the Monju reactor. Of its members, 71 responded. The respondents do not include workers at Monju since the union does not have a branch in Tsuruga.

JAEA employs some 3,130 workers across the country, of whom about 380 work at the Tsuruga business headquarters that supervises Monju.

According to the results of the survey obtained by the Mainichi Shimbun, some respondents wrote critical views in the survey’s section in which they were asked to freely express their opinions on Monju.

“It’s questionable to continue to use a massive amount of money for the reactor,” one of them said.

“Monju is a failure. The reactor should be shut down after reviewing the project,” another wrote.

“Fast-breeder reactors require extremely difficult technology, and it’s difficult to commercialize such a project,” a further respondent said.

One other employee insisted that the project should be split from the JAEA.

When asked about the future of Monju, 57.7 percent said the government should consider decommissioning the reactor while only 8.5 percent said the project should be continued under the supervision of the JAEA.

Moreover, 71.8 percent replied that they do not think the JAEA has become an organization that has never betrayed the trust of the public as a result of reforms following revelations in 2012 that the group omitted check-ups on about 10,000 items in the Monju reactor.

An official of the Genken Roso union said, “Since the response rate is low, the outcome doesn’t represent the opinions of all members.”

However, Fumiya Tanabe, who previously served as a senior researcher at the JAEA, pointed out that the results of the survey shows the true opinions of employees.

“The outcome shows workers’ real feelings. They are also probably dissatisfied with the current situation of the organization, in which an annual 20 billion yen in taxpayers’ money is injected into the idled Monju while sufficient funds can’t be spent on other research projects,” said Tanabe.

The JAELU’s Tsuruga branch, which has 240 members, has conducted a similar survey but has withheld its results.

Commenting on the outcome of the Genken Roso survey, a JAELU official said, “Employees’ enthusiasm to work hard for the future of Japan remains unchanged.”

http://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20160920/p2a/00m/0na/017000c

September 20, 2016 Posted by dunrenard | Japan | Fast Breeder Reactor, Monju Reactor | Leave a comment

LDP policy chief calls for decommissioning of Monju reactor

Toshimitsu Motegi, chairman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s Policy Research Council, on Friday called for decommissioning the Monju prototype fast-breeder nuclear reactor in central Japan as a cost-effective step for the troubled facility.

In an interview, Motegi said that he cannot think of any option other than decommissioning for the reactor in Tsuruga in Fukui Prefecture, which is operated by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency.

“Now is the time to make a decision,” Motegi said.

The Monju reactor, which reached criticality for the first time in 1994, has been in operation only for 250 days so far, while more than ¥1 trillion has been spent on the reactor, a core facility for Japan’s nuclear fuel cycle policy.

He also cited a failure to find a new operator of the reactor to replace the JAEA, though the Nuclear Regulation Authority urged the education and science minister to take such a step in November last year.

The JAEA is effectively banned from restarting the reactor following a series of problems, including its failure to conduct maintenance checks properly.

Motegi said hundreds of billions of yen more would be necessary for the reactor to meet the current stricter reactor safety standards for restart.

Also in the interview, Motegi said that the LDP will start discussions Tuesday on whether to extend the maximum term of office for the LDP president.

The LDP will revise its rules at a party convention next year if it reaches a conclusion on the issue by year-end at its headquarters for political system reforms, he said.

The LDP currently sets the maximum term of its president at two consecutive three-year terms. Some party members have called for allowing Abe to serve another three years to allow him to remain prime minister when Tokyo hosts the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/09/16/national/ldp-policy-chief-calls-decommissioning-monju-reactor/#.V9xyR-uvirU

September 18, 2016 Posted by dunrenard | Japan | decommissioning, Fast Breeder Reactor, Monju Reactor | Leave a comment

Gov’t making final arrangements to scrap Monju reactor: sources

EN-433551-thumbx300 monju.jpg

The Japanese government is making final arrangements to scrap the trouble-prone Monju fast-breeder reactor, given the huge cost expected for its resumption, government sources said Tuesday.

The move comes as the government judged it cannot obtain public support for the huge amount of money needed to restart the reactor in Fukui Prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast.

If realized, decommissioning of the reactor would require a drastic change in the nation’s nuclear fuel-recycle policy, in which Monju is designated to play a key part.

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2016/09/433630.html

September 13, 2016 Posted by dunrenard | Japan | fast breeder, Monju Reactor | Leave a comment

Japan considers scrapping fast-breeder reactor as costs mount

fast breeder reactor monju npp.jpg

The government is considering scrapping the troubled Monju fast-breeder reactor after calculating that readying it for restart would cost several hundred billion yen, sources said Monday.

A political decision on decommissioning the reactor is now in sight, with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga joining talks to determine its fate, the sources said.

The facility in Fukui Prefecture has been beset by safety problems and has only been operational for a total of 250 days since it first went critical in 1994.

Decommissioning Monju would deal a serious blow to the nation’s vaunted fuel cycle policy, in which the reactor was designed to play a central role. The plan is to develop a commercial fast-breeder reactor that produces more plutonium than it consumes.

The science ministry has been trying to find a new entity to run the reactor, which is currently operated by the government-backed Japan Atomic Energy Agency.

The ministry was ordered to do this by the Nuclear Regulation Authority in November, after the NRA expressed exasperation with the operator’s consistent failure to make the plant a success.

Nuclear safety has been a hot-button issue in Japan in the wake of the disaster in 2011 at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

The ministry has been consulting a panel of energy experts on whether to keep Monju alive or to scrap it but has failed to identify a new entity to take over management.

In either case, substantial amounts of money are needed. The agency estimated in 2012 that it would cost around ¥300 billion to scrap the reactor in a process lasting over 30 years.

Safety problems included a major fire caused by a sodium leak in 1995.

The total of 250 operational days has come at a cost of more than ¥1 trillion in building and maintenance costs.

If Monju restarts operations, the ministry says its fuel must be replaced. In the event of a restart, new guidelines for fast-breeder reactors must also be created and any related construction will have to reflect these guidelines.

Making the building’s facilities meet the new guidelines will likely cost nearly ¥100 billion, the sources said, adding there would be further expenses for replacing old equipment.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/08/29/national/japan-considers-scrapping-fast-breeder-reactor-costs-mount/#.V8TSUu1VK1F

August 30, 2016 Posted by dunrenard | Japan | Fast Breeder Reactor, Monju Reactor, Scrapping | Leave a comment

Japan’s Nuclear Holy Grail Slips Away With Operator Elusive

Japan is missing its own deadline to find a new operator for a prototype nuclear power program that’s failed to succeed in the two decades since it was built, threatening the resource-poor country’s support of a technology other nations have abandoned.

The country’s nuclear regulator demanded in November a replacement for the government-backed Japan Atomic Energy Agency be found within six months for the Monju fast-breeder reactor. Monju, which has functioned for less than a year since its completion more than 20 years ago, now faces the possibility of being scrapped.

The so-called fast-breeder reactor — a cornerstone of its atomic energy strategy dating back to the 1950s — uses spent nuclear fuel from other plants and is designed to produce more atomic fuel that it consumes. The reactor, named after the Buddhist deity of wisdom, has cost the nation more than 1 trillion yen ($9 billion) and has barely operated since it first generated electricity in 1995.

“The potential closure of Monju would be a major blow not just to the fast-breeder community in Japan, but also those supporting reprocessing of spent fuel,” M. V. Ramana, a professor at Princeton University’s Nuclear Futures Laboratory, said by e-mail. “I wonder if the government will allow Monju to be shut down? I would expect that they will simply create a new agency to oversee Monju.”

1950s Strategy

Monju is currently operated by the JAEA, a quasi-government organization that is under the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. JAEA declined to comment. The nation’s nuclear watchdog, the Nuclear Regulation Authority, didn’t respond to e-mailed questions regarding the status of Monju.

“We don’t have plans to decommission the reactor,” said Hiroki Takaya, director of the ministry’s International Nuclear and Fusion Energy Affairs Division, which oversees Monju. “We are exploring many different options for who will operate the reactor — either a new entity or an existing company.”

The NRA said in November the science ministry must find a new operator or consider closure. The ministry drafted a set of criteria for a new operator, but have yet to name a replacement, it said on May 27. The ministry hopes to find an operator as soon as possible, but hasn’t set a concrete deadline.

“These turn out to be very expensive technologies to build,” Allison MacFarlane, a former chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said by e-mail. “Many countries have tried over and over. What is truly impressive is that these many governments continue to fund a demonstrably failed technology.”

While Japan’s science ministry seeks a new operator of Monju, no power utility has stepped forward.

“Monju’s reactor design is quite different from a normal reactor, and utilities don’t have the expertise to handle it,” Makoto Yagi, chairman of the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan, told reporters in May. “Monju is currently in a research and development phase by the government, it isn’t the matter for a private company.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-31/nuclear-holy-grail-slips-away-from-japan-with-operator-elusive

June 1, 2016 Posted by dunrenard | Japan | Fast Breeder Reactor, Monju Reactor | Leave a comment

There is simply no reason to continue Monju reactor program

An expert council on the Monju fast-breeder reactor program started debate last week on a draft report it will submit to the science and technology ministry.

The panel’s work is a response to the Nuclear Regulation Authority’s recommendation last year that the operator of the troubled experimental reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, should be replaced.

After a series of revelations about omitted safety inspections and other problems, the NRA in November urged science and technology minister Hiroshi Hase to find a new entity to replace the government-backed Japan Atomic Energy Agency as the reactor’s operator.

But the council’s draft report, released on May 20, doesn’t name a candidate for the mission. It only mentions a set of conditions the new operator should fulfill, which are nothing new and all part of conventional wisdom.

It says, for instance, the new operator should have “the ability to develop and implement operation and maintenance plans based on the characteristics of the reactor that is still in the experimental stage.” It also says the new operator should be able to respond appropriately to the interests and needs of society.

The draft report also points to the failure of a series of reforms that have been carried out to save the trouble-plagued program. It offers no reason to believe this time is different and the proposed replacement of the operator will bring about sufficient improvements in the management of the Monju.

The fast-breeder reactor requires as much as 20 billion yen ($182 million) in annual maintenance costs. In addition, there is not even an estimate of the certainly huge costs for necessary safety measures.

All these facts make a compelling case for decommissioning the reactor.

The biggest problem, as some members of the ministry panel have noted, is the lack of serious debate on the cost-effectiveness of the Monju program.

Who needs this program and how strong is the need? How much more money is the government ready to spend to develop and operate the reactor? These and other key questions about whether the program makes economic sense have been left unaddressed.

The Monju is now in a precarious position even in the government’s nuclear energy policy.

The reactor was once touted as the core facility for the government’s plan to establish a nuclear fuel recycling system in which plutonium extracted from spent nuclear fuel is burned in a fast-breeder reactor.

For more than two decades since a sodium coolant leak accident in 1995, however, the Monju has remained mostly idle.

Over the period, the need for a nuclear fuel recycling system has kept diminishing. There are now few people in the private sector calling for the development of a fast-breeder reactor.

When it drew up a research plan using the Monju three years ago, the science and technology ministry had to focus on the topic of nuclear waste disposal rather than fast-breeder reactor technology itself.

Still, the government has refused to pull the plug on the Monju program because it is concerned about possible repercussions on its nuclear fuel recycling policy as a whole.

But this vision is now almost a fantasy. If the government admits this fact, however, the issue of how to dispose of the large amounts of spent nuclear fuel stored at nuclear power plants across the nation will no doubt come under the spotlight.

Continuing the Monju program simply to gloss over this grim reality would be too foolish.

A small experimental reactor is enough and more efficient for use in research in nuclear waste disposal, which is still in a rudimentary stage. The need for such research offers no rationale for keeping the Monju program alive.

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201605230020.html

May 24, 2016 Posted by dunrenard | Japan | Monju Reactor | Leave a comment

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