EXCLUSIVE: 1,450 Tons of Spent Nuclear Fuel Newly Generated in Japan

Tokyo, June 28 (Jiji Press)–The amount of spent fuel generated at Japanese nuclear power plants that were reactivated under new safety standards introduced in the wake of the nation’s worst nuclear accident in 2011 totaled about 1,450 tons as of the end of May this year, Jiji Press has learned. Spent nuclear fuel emits high-level radiation and strong heat, and is therefore kept in dedicated storage pools. The spent fuel storage rate has reached around 80 pct to 90 pct of capacity at many nuclear reactors. The No. 1 reactor at Kyushu Electric Power Co.’s Sendai nuclear power station in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, was brought back online in August 2015, becoming the first reactor restarted under the new safety standards, which were introduced in 2013 following the March 2011 triple meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s disaster-crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in northeastern Japan. A total of 15 reactors at nine plants have been restarted, and the amount of spent fuel was confirmed at 13 reactors at seven plants as of the end of May. Spent fuel would increase if more reactors are brought back to operation. The amount of spent fuel was the largest at Kansai Electric Power Co.’s Takahama plant in Fukui Prefecture, central Japan, totaling about 380 tons at the No. 1 to No. 4 reactors. The storage rate came to 59 pct to 95 pct. Spent fuel totaled some 320 tons at the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at the company’s Oi plant in Fukui, with the storage rate exceeding 90 pct at both reactors. At Kyushu Electric, two reactors each were restarted at the Sendai plant and the Genkai nuclear power plant, which is located in Saga Prefecture, southwestern Japan. The amount of spent nuclear fuel stood at about 310 tons at the Sendai plant and roughly 270 tons at the Genkai plant, and the storage rate at the four reactors ranged from 75 pct to 80 pct. Spent fuel generated at the No. 3 reactor at Shikoku Electric Power Co.’s Ikata plant in Ehime Prefecture, western Japan, the No. 3 reactor at Kansai Electric’s Mihama plant in Fukui and the No. 2 reactor at Tohoku Electric Power Co.’s Onagawa plant in the northeastern prefecture of Miyagi stood at about 10 tons to 110 tons. The storage rate came to around 85 pct at the Ikata and Onagawa reactors. The No. 2 reactor at Chugoku Electric Power Co.’s Shimane plant in Shimane Prefecture, western Japan, and the No. 6 reactor at TEPCO’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in the central prefecture of Niigata were reactivated in 2024 and this year, respectively, and the amount of spent fuel has not been confirmed at the two reactors. Hokkaido Electric Power Co. aims to restart the No. 3 reactor at the Tomari nuclear power plant in the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido next year. The spent fuel at the nuclear plants will eventually be transported to Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd.’s reprocessing plant in the village of Rokkasho in Aomori Prefecture, northeastern Japan. Uranium and plutonium will be extracted from the spent fuel for reuse, and the remainder, which emits high-level radiation, will be disposed of as waste. But the completion of the reprocessing plant, originally slated for 1997, has been postponed a total of 27 times due to a series of problems, leading to increases in spent fuel at nuclear power stations around the country. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]