Please stop operating as many nuclear
reactors as possible. Please decommission
them.
Masatoshi
Takeshita
December
11, 2012
Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant
( Fukui Prefecture in Japan )
English translation of a Japanese article: Monju Bosatsu – December 11, 2012 –
Source: Sankei Shimbun – December 10, 2012
at 21:31)
Nuclear Reactor at Tsuruga Nuclear Power
Plant Likely to be Decommissioned – Shock to Kansai Electric Power Company
Infoseek Rakuten News
The fracture zone directly
beneath the Tsuruga nuclear power plant (Fukui Prefecture) operated by the
Japan Atomic Power Co. (JAPCO) has almost concluded to be an active fault and it is likely that the nuclear reactor there will be
decommissioned. This news has posed a
quite a shock to electric power companies including Kansai Electric Power Company
(KEPCO). This is because the KEPCO and
other power companies have used the Tsuruga plant as power supply source and
also have spent a vast amount of money on the operation and maintenance of the plant. It is pointed out that the fracture zones beneath the sites of both Oi and Mihama
nuclear power plants (Fukui Prefecture) operated by KEPCO and the Shiga nuclear
power plant by Hokuriku Electric Power Company are also likely to be active
faults. Therefore, the possibility that reactors
at these plants will be decommissioned, which depends on the decision of the Nuclear
Regulation Authority (NRA), cannot be ruled out.
Revenue from power rates the JAPCO receives
from electric power companies is composed of the ‘basic charge’ for operation
and maintenance of the nuclear power plant and the ‘meter rate’ varying based on
electric supply. Revenue for 2010 from KEPCO
alone amounted to 42.5 billion yen. As
for revenue for 2011, it reached 34 billion yen, which accounted for 8.4 percent
of total payment for electricity purchased by KEPCO, in spite of the suspension
of No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at the Tsuruga nuclear power plant.
As KEPCO expected to receive electric power
from the Tsuruga nuclear power plant in the future, President Shosuke Mori told
a press conference at the Kansai Economic Federation to call for restarting the
plant, saying “KEPCO has paid a considerable amount of fixed costs and naturally
wants to receive enough electricity commensurate with such payment.”
On the other hand, as the fracture zone
beneath the Tsuruga plant has been almost concluded to be an active fault, power
companies beneath which there may be active faults are seriously scared about
future survey.
On-site survey is slated
for 13th and 14th this month in five nuclear power plants
including the Totsu nuclear power plant operated by Tohokoku Electric Power
Company (Aomori Prefecture). As for the
fracture zone beneath the site of Totsu plant, Professor Mitsuhisa Watanabe, Toyo
University (specialist of geomorphology) points out that “the zone is
considered to be an active fault by most definitions.” It is pointed out that the faults beneath the
sites of KEPCO’s Mihama nuclear plant and the Monju fast-breeder reactor (Fukui
Prefecture) and the active faults beneath the neighborhood area will be activated
together.
An additional survey of the
fracture zone at the site of Oi nuclear power plant where No. 3 and No.4 reactors
are in operation will be made by NRA’s research team of experts on 28th
and 29th this month. KEPCO comments “we would like to explain it
is not an active fault” but if it is judged to be an
active fault, operation of No. 3 and No. 4 reactors is highly likely to be
suspended.
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