Fugen Nuclear Power Plant

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Decommissioned Reactors ( gross ):

The Fugen (Japaneseふげんjoints, english joints Nuclear Power Station) is a disused and befindliches in dismantling nuclear power plant in Japan. It is located in the village of Myojin -chō near the city of Tsuruga in Fukui Prefecture. Was named the plant after the Japanese name of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, a deity in Buddhism.

It was equipped with a Japan -developed Advanced Thermal Reactor (ATR ). The reactor used can make use of various fuels from natural uranium to mixed oxide ( MOX). It was planned as part of the plutonium cycle. On 20 March 1978, equipped with MOX reactor went critical for the first time.

Since this is a prototype, the owner is no current group, but the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute. Joints was the first thermal neutron reactor, which was operated entirely with MOX. Since he was able to use their design different fuels, it also served to develop new fuel elements.

In 1995, the government decided not to build any more reactors of this type, since the cost in comparison to light water reactors were too high. In March 2003 it was decommissioned. The dismantling began in the following years.

For 25 years of the joints Nuclear Power Station the Historic Landmark Award from the American Nuclear Society (ANS ) received.

Incidents

  • April 8, 2002: From a broken pipe leaked about 200 m3 of radioactive steam. The reactor was shut down.

Dismantling

The degradation of the reactor, there were surprises: It was found in October 2006 that the walls did not have the necessary resilience in an important building at 25 of 34 points. It is an attachment to the reactor where the control room and the emergency core cooling system are located. As standard a resistance force of 22 Newton is set, at one point this was only 10 Newtons.

Reactor technology and business

The Fugen has a block. The reactor was the first in the world, which was operated with MOX fuel. He had 772 fuel assemblies and was the largest of this type. He used the steam cycle ordinary water as a boiling water reactor ( BWR), but heavy water as a moderator, as. In a CANDU reactor The electric power was 165 MW, the thermal power 557 MW. In the fuel rods there was a temperature of 2200 ° C, the reactor core 300 ° C. A change of fuel is required every six months

The facility is located on a plot of 267 694 m² size, of which the building claiming 7,762 m². The floor area is 46 488 square meters. The plant employed 256 people.

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