No Nuke Reactor Operating in Japan on May 6, First in 42 Years

Reactor 3 at Tomari Nuclear Power Plant in Hokkaido will be shut down for the scheduled maintenance around midnight on May 5.

Tomari's Reactor 3 is a Pressurized Water Reactor that started operation in 2009. Tomari Nuclear Power Plant is one of the newer nuclear power plants in Japan; the first reactor started operation in 1989. Reactor 3 plans to start using MOX fuel, but a third-party investigation revealed that the plant operator Hokkaido Electric (HEPCO) had used "shills" in one of the "town hall meetings" for the local residents in July last year to speak favorably of and promote the use of MOX fuel (according to the company announcement in October last year).

Hokkaido's governor Harumi Takahashi is a former career bureaucrat in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and she wants to restart the nuclear plant as soon as possible.

From Mainichi Shinbun (5/4/2012):

泊原発３号機:５日に停止で国内稼働ゼロに　４２年ぶり

Reactor 3 at Tomari Nuke Plant stops on May 5, no nuke plant operating in Japan for the first time in 42 years

国内の原発５０基の中で唯一、運転している北海道電力泊原発３号機（北海道泊村、出力９１．２万キロワット）が５日夜、定期検査のため停止する。国内の原発がすべて止まるのは７０年、当時２基しかなかった原発が検査のため同時停止して以来４２年ぶり。政府は、関西電力大飯原発３、４号機（福井県おおい町）を再稼働させたい考えだが、周辺自治体の理解を得られるめどは立っていない。電力需要の高まる夏を「原発ゼロ」で迎える可能性も出ている。

Reactor 3 at Tomari Nuclear Power Plant operated by Hokkaido Electric (located on Tomari-mura in Hokkaido, 912 MW), the only operating reactor among 50 reactors in Japan, will stop on May 5 night due to the scheduled maintenance. The last time all the nuclear reactors in Japan stopped was 42 years ago in 1970, when there were only two reactors and they stopped at the same time for inspection. The national government wants to re-start Reactors 3 and 4 at Ooi Nuclear Power Plant operated by Kansai Electric (located in Ooi-cho in Fukui Prefecture), but it is not certain whether the local municipalities agree to the restart. There is a possibility that Japan will enter summer with high electricity demand with "zero nuclear reactors operating".

北電によると、泊３号機は検査に向け、４月２８日から徐々に出力を落としてきた。５日午後５時ごろ、核分裂を抑えるための制御棒を原子炉に入れ始め、同１１時ごろ発電を止める。６日午前２時ごろ制御棒の挿入を終え、原子炉が停止。７日午後、炉内の水温が１００度未満に下がる冷温停止状態になる見通しだ。

According to HEPCO, Reactor 3 has been gradually lowering the output since April 28 in preparation for the inspection. At about 5PM on May 5, the control rods will be gradually inserted in the reactor to stop the nuclear fission, and power generation will stop at about 11PM. At about 2AM on May 6, the control rods will be fully inserted to stop the reactor. In the afternoon on May 7, the cold shutdown will be achieved whereby the temperature of water inside the reactor drops below 100 degrees Celsius.

The number of nuclear reactors in Japan is now 50, after four reactors (1, 2, 3 and 4) at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant have been formally declared for decommissioning.

Kansai Electric has been warning the planned blackouts if Ooi Nuclear Power Plant is not restarted by summer. Anti-nuclear net citizens are saying, "Bring it on!"

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Hokkaido Governor Allows the Re-Start of Tomari Nuke Plant Reactor 3

The Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident may be becoming a distant and inconvenient memory for many, including the governor of Hokkaido Harumi Takahashi, a former elite bureaucrat in what is now the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

She has just approved the formal re-start of Tomari Nuclear Power Plant Reactor 3, despite the protest literally from all over the country. It will be the first re-start of any reactor that has been in maintenance or shut-down after the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident, and Tomari Reactor 3 will simply switch from the long (since March) post-maintenance test-run to full commercial run without undergoing the so-called "stress test" after the Nuclear Safety Commission rubber-stamped and the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency immediately approved.

Governor Takahashi has been receiving campaign donations from executives at Hokkaido Electric Power Company (link in Japanese), and she says she will continue to do so as she sees nothing technically wrong with it.

Reactor 3 of Tomari Nuclear Power Plant was designed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and will use MOX-fuel, i.e. in Japanese English, "pluthermal". MOX-fuel will come from France, according to HEPCO (that's Hokkaido Electric Power Company)'s "Pluthermal" webpage (in Japanese).

The Hokkaido prefectural government held a special committee meeting on August 16 to decide whether to allow the re-start of Tomari Reactor 3; the meeting lasted well into the late night, where even the committee members shouted at her that she had already made up her mind and was just trying to fit everything with that conclusion, according to FNN News (in Japanese).

It's all about money, as Haruki "Detarame" Madarame of the Nuclear Safety Commission said in 2006. It applies to those "genpatsu (nuclear power plant)" towns as well as the "genpatsu" governors like her.

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Today's Nuclear Safety Commission Meeting Has a Noisy Audience

(Update) It's unreal. The commission members continue the meeting, totally ignoring the questions from the audience who want Tomari Nuke Plant stopped and inspected properly. At one point, the commission head, Haruki "Detarame" Madarame declared the meeting over.

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It looks like something very unusual is happening. There are a lot of people attending the Nuclear Safety Commission's meeting on August 11 which is open to public, and they are shouting at the commissioners.

The NSC is discussing the nuclear power plant maintenance schedule. Why is it an issue that attract so many people? It's because of one nuclear power plant in Hokkaido that has been "testing" the reactor for over 5 months after the regular maintenance was over.

Even though the "testing" is done on a full, commercial scale, Hokkaido Electric Power who owns the plant, Tomari Nuclear Power Plant, is calling it "testing" so that they can continue to generate power without going through the so-called "stress test".

The NSC meeting today is supposed to endorse the re-start of "commercial" operation of the reactor without the stress test, and that's what people who fill the room are upset about.

But shouting down the commissioners? And apparently the commissioners don't even try to rein in the crowd, as one reporter tweets "guilty conscience, maybe?"

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