By Todd Crowell
TOKYO
Barring any last minute glitches, nuclear power is about to become a part of Japan’s energy mix for the first time in two years.
On July 7, technicians at the Sendai-1 reactor on the south-western coast of Kyushu began moving uranium fuel assemblies stored at an on-site spend fuel pool into the reactor core.
The refueling operation was completed July 10.
The utility is still subject to some final “pre-use” inspections by the regulator, the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), before workers can pull control rods out allowing the reactor to sustain a chain reaction that will take place sometime in mid-August.
It will go online in September.
Japan began shutting its 48 nuclear power plants after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011, damaged four reactors in Fukushima, melting the cores in three of them and forcing thousands of people to leave their homes, most of whom have been able to return.
All of the reactors have remained offline since 2013, and Japan has reformed its safety rules to create a new regulatory body tasked with insuring that reactors that do come back on line comply with new safety restrictions gleaned from what has been learned of the disaster.
Last September, the body - the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) - said that two reactors at the Sendai-1 reactor - owned by the Kyushu Electric Power Co. - had met the government’s stricter regulations and were ready for a restart.
Although it has taken fully a year from September, the permission was granted to the time Sendai-1 actually begins producing electricity.
Since then, the NRA has conditionally approved two other plant sites for restart, Takahama 3-4, owned by the Kansai Electric Power Co., and the Ikeda reactors owned by the Shikoku Electric Power Co.
However, a district court has enjoined the Takahama units from actually restarting.
Some 25 at 15 plant sites units are awaiting the NRA’s safety approval decision.
The Sendai plant has been inactive since May, 2011, when, like numerous other reactors in Japan, it shut down for routine maintenance and inspections but was not allowed to return to operation in the post-Fukushima atmosphere.
All the fuel was removed from the core in January, 2013.
The second unit at Sendai also cleared the NRA safety scrutiny and the utility is hoping to bring it on line by mid-October at the earliest. Both produce about 890 megawatts of electricity.
It is national policy bring as many idled reactors back on line as practical as soon after they have passed NRA scrutiny.
The latest energy plan produced by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry sees nuclear ultimately providing about a third of Japan’s electricity needs,
However, the national policy is not reflected in public opinion polls that consistently show that by large margins the Japanese public opposes the return to nuclear.
The refueling operation attracted several hundred demonstrators near the plant and another 100 or so near Kyushu Electric’s Tokyo headquarters. One sign read; “Don’t press the start button”.
Despite the NRA seal of approval, critics say there are many unanswered questions, especially concerning the many active volcanos near the Sendai plant site. Another issue is how people living within the 30 kilometers of the plants could be evacuated.
Yuchiro Ito, governor of Kagoshima prefecture, who favors the restart, has said in a statement, “because inspections will continue to be carried out before the plant is put back on line, I would ask Kyushu Electric to continue to place top priority on ensuring safety by all appropriate measures.”
