Jump to content

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant: Difference between revisions

Coordinates: 37°25′17″N 141°01′57″E / 37.4214°N 141.0325°E / 37.4214; 141.0325
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Content deleted Content added
Chobot (talk | contribs)
m r2.6.5) (Robot: Modifying ko:후쿠시마 제1 원자력 발전소
No edit summary
Line 87: Line 87:
{{Cite news
{{Cite news
| url = http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=28211
| url = http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=28211
| work=World Nuclear News
| work=World Nuclear News meow
| date=August 10, 2010
| date=August 10, 2010
| title= Third Japanese reactor to load MOX
| title= Third Japanese reactor to load MOX

Revision as of 23:27, 16 April 2012

Template:Distinguish2

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant
The Fukushima Daiichi NPP in 2002
Map
CountryJapan
Coordinates37°25′17″N 141°01′57″E / 37.4214°N 141.0325°E / 37.4214; 141.0325
StatusUnits 1-4: Severely damaged, decommissioned
Units 5-6: Slightly damaged, out of service
Construction beganJuly 25, 1967 (1967-07-25)
Commission dateMarch 26, 1971 (1971-03-26)
Decommission date
  • 11 March 2011
OperatorTokyo Electric Power Company
Power generation
Nameplate capacity
  • 0 MW
External links
Websitehttp://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/press/f1-np/index-e.html
CommonsRelated media on Commons

Webcam

The Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant (福島第一原子力発電所, Fukushima Dai-ichi (pronunciation) Genshiryoku Hatsudensho, Fukushima I NPP), also known as Fukushima Dai-ichi (dai-ichi means "number one"), is a disabled nuclear power plant located on a 3.5-square-kilometre (860-acre) site[1] in the towns of Okuma and Futaba in the Futaba District of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. First commissioned in 1971, the plant consists of six boiling water reactors (BWR). These light water reactors[2] drove electrical generators with a combined power of 4.7 GWe, making Fukushima Daiichi one of the 15 largest nuclear power stations in the world. Fukushima I was the first nuclear plant to be designed, constructed and run in conjunction with General Electric, Boise, and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO).[3] The plant suffered major damage from the 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011 and is not expected to reopen. The earthquake and tsunami disabled the reactor cooling systems, leading to nuclear radiation leaks and triggering a 30 km evacuation zone surrounding the plant. On April 20, 2011, the Japanese authorities declared the 20 km evacuation zone a no-go area which may only be entered under government supervision.

The Fukushima II Nuclear Power Plant, or Fukushima Dai-ni ("number two"), is located to the south and also run by TEPCO.

Power plant information

Cross-section sketch of a typical BWR Mark I containment, as used in Units 1 to 5. The reactor core (1) consists of fuel rods and moderator rods (39) which are moved in and out by the device (31). Around the pressure vessel (8), there is an outer containment (19) which is closed by a concrete plug (2). When fuel rods are moved in or out, the crane (26) will move this plug to the pool for facilities (3). Steam from the dry well (11) can move to the wet well (24) through jet nozzles (14) to condense there (18). In the spent fuel pool (5), the used fuel rods (27) are stored. .

The reactors for Units 1, 2, and 6 were supplied by General Electric, those for Units 3 and 5 by Toshiba, and Unit 4 by Hitachi. All six reactors were designed by General Electric.[4][5] Architectural design for General Electric's units was done by Ebasco. All construction was done by Kajima.[6] Since September 2010, Unit 3 has been fueled by a small fraction (6%)[7] of mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel, rather than the low enriched uranium (LEU) used in the other reactors.[8][9] Units 1–5 were built with Mark I type (light bulb torus) containment structures.[10][11] The Mark I containment structure was slightly increased in volume by Japanese engineers.[12] Unit 6 has a Mark II type (over/under) containment structure.[10][11][13]

Unit 1 is a 460 MW boiling water reactor (BWR-3) constructed in July 1967. It commenced commercial electrical production on March 26, 1971, and was initially scheduled for shutdown in early 2011.[14] In February 2011, Japanese regulators granted an extension of ten years for the continued operation of the reactor.[15] It was damaged during the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.[16]

Unit 1 was designed for a peak ground acceleration of 0.18 g (1.74 m/s2) and a response spectrum based on the 1952 Kern County earthquake, but rated for 0.498 g.[10][17] The design basis for Units 3 and 6 were 0.45 g (4.41 m/s2) and 0.46 g (4.48 m/s2) respectively.[18] All units were inspected after the 1978 Miyagi earthquake when the ground acceleration was 0.125 g (1.22 m/s2) for 30 seconds, but no damage to the critical parts of the reactor was discovered.[10] The design basis for tsunamis was 5.7 meters.[19]

The reactor's emergency diesel generators and DC batteries, crucial components in helping keep the reactors cool in the event of a power loss, were located in the basements of the reactor turbine buildings. The reactor design plans provided by General Electric specified placing the generators and batteries in that location, but mid-level engineers working on the construction of the plant were concerned that this made the back up power systems vulnerable to flooding. TEPCO elected to strictly follow General Electric's design in the construction of the reactors.[20]

Site layout

The location of the plant was on a bluff which was originally 35-meters above sea level. During construction, however, TEPCO lowered the height of the bluff by 25-meters. One reason the bluff was lowered was so that the base of the reactors could be constructed on solid bedrock to mitigate the threat posed by earthquakes. Another reason was the lowered height would keep the running costs of the seawater pumps low. TEPCO's analysis of the tsunami risk when planning the site's construction determined that the lower elevation was safe because the sea wall would provide adequate protection for the maximum tsunami assumed by the design basis. However, the lower site elevation did increase the vulnerability for a tsunami larger than anticipated in design. tsunami.[21]

The Fukushima Daiichi site is divided into two reactor groups, the leftmost group when viewing from the ocean contains units 4,3,2 and 1 going from left to right. The rightmost group when viewing from the ocean contains the newer units 5 and 6, respectively the positions from left to right. A set of seawalls protrude into the ocean, with the water intake in the middle and water discharge outlets on either side.

Reactor data

Units 7 and 8 were planned to start construction in April 2012 and 2013 and to come into operation in October 2016 and 2017 respectively. The project was formally canceled by TEPCO in April 2011 after local authorities questioned the fact that they were still included in the supply plan for 2011, released in March 2011, after the accidents. The company stated that the plan had been drafted before the earthquake.[22]

Unit Type[23] Containment Start construction[24] First criticality[24] Commercial operation[24] Electric power[24] Reactor supplier[23] Architecture[6] Construction[6] Fuel
Fukushima I – 1 BWR-3 Mark I July 25, 1967 October 10, 1970 March 26, 1971 460 MW General Electric Ebasco Kajima LEU
Fukushima I – 2 BWR-4 Mark I June 9, 1969 May 10, 1973 July 18, 1974 784 MW General Electric Ebasco Kajima LEU
Fukushima I – 3 BWR-4 Mark I December 28, 1970 September 6, 1974 March 27, 1976 784 MW Toshiba Toshiba Kajima LEU/MOX[8]
Fukushima I – 4 BWR-4 Mark I February 12, 1973 January 28, 1978 October 12, 1978 784 MW Hitachi Hitachi Kajima
Fukushima I – 5 BWR-4 Mark I May 22, 1972 August 26, 1977 April 18, 1978 784 MW Toshiba Toshiba Kajima
Fukushima I – 6 BWR-5 Mark II October 26, 1973 March 9, 1979 October 24, 1979 1,100 MW General Electric Ebasco Kajima
Fukushima I – 7 (planned)[25] ABWR Canceled 04/2011 (As originally planned) October 2016 1,380 MW Canceled 04/2011
Fukushima I – 8 (planned)[25] ABWR Canceled 04/2011 (As originally planned) October 2017 1,380 MW Canceled 04/2011

Electrical connections

The Fukushima Daiichi plant is connected to the power grid by four lines, the 500 kV Futaba Line (双葉線), the two 275 kV Ōkuma Lines (大熊線) and the 66 kV Yonomori line (夜の森線) to the Shin-Fukushima (New Fukushima) substation.

The Shin-Fukushima substation also connects to the Fukushima Daini plant by the Tomioka Line (富岡線). Its major connection to the north is the Iwaki Line (いわき幹線), which is owned by Tohoku Electric Power. It has two connections to the south-west that connect it to the Shin-Iwaki substation (新いわき).

Operating history

The plant reactors came online from 1970 through 1979. From the end of 2002 through 2005, the reactors were among those shut down for a time for safety checks due to the TEPCO data falsification scandal.[26][27] On Feb 28, 2011 TEPCO submitted a report to the Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency admitting that the company had previously submitted fake inspection and repair reports. The report revealed that TEPCO failed to inspect more than 30 technical components of the six reactors, including power boards for the reactor's temperature control valves, as well as components of cooling systems such as water pump motors and emergency power diesel generators.[28] In 2008, the IAEA warned Japan that the Fukushima was built using outdated safety guidelines, and could be a "serious problem" during a large earthquake.[29] The warning led to the building of an emergency response center in 2010, used during the response to the 2011 nuclear accident.[29][30]

On 4 April 2011, TEPCO vice president Takashi Fujimoto announced that the company was canceling plans to build Reactors No. 7 and 8.[31][32] On May 20 TEPCO's board of directors' officially voted to decommission Units 1 through 4 of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and to cancel plans to build units 7 and 8. It refused however to make a decision regarding units 5 and 6 of the station or units 1 to 4 of the Fukushima Daini nuclear power station until a detailed investigation is made. It said in the interim it will work to preserve these reactors in the state of cold shutdown.

Electricity generation for the Fukushima I NPP by Unit in GW·h[24]
Electricity generation for the Fukushima I
Year Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 3 Unit 4 Unit 5 Unit 6
1970 60.482
1971 2024.3
1972 2589.1
1973 2216.8 5.949
1974 1629.7 3670.1 284.7
1975 0 622.1 2961.8
1976 1563.9 4191.4 4807.1
1977 0 49.7 2171.1 875.1
1978 1497.6 3876.3 2753.7 3163.2 4806.7
1979 2504.4 2976 4916.3 3917.4 3898.6 3235.6
1980 1249.5 2889 4287 4317 4282.6 6441.1
1981 1084.8 3841.8 3722.8 4667.5 4553.9 7418.6
1982 2355 5290.2 2886.8 5734.7 4061.3 6666.5
1983 3019.5 3422.7 4034 4818.2 5338.8 5387.8
1984 2669.761 3698.718 4497.326 4433.166 4691.482 5933.242
1985 1699.287 4266.285 5798.641 4409.031 4112.429 5384.802
1986 2524.683 5541.101 4234.196 4315.241 4157.361 7783.537
1987 3308.888 3851.078 3748.839 5964.048 3995.012 7789.201
1988 2794.464 4101.251 5122.991 5309.892 5952.712 5593.058
1989 1440.778 6516.393 5706.694 4232.648 4766.535 5128.362
1990 2352.405 3122.761 2919.548 4273.767 3956.549 7727.073
1991 1279.986 3853.054 4491.022 6483.384 6575.818 6948.662
1992 1794.061 4568.531 6098.742 4082.747 4841.234 5213.607
1993 2500.668 4186.704 4204.301 4206.577 4059.685 6530.932
1994 3337.532 2265.961 4202.304 6323.277 4246.206 8079.391
1995 3030.829 6396.469 5966.533 5485.662 5878.681 6850.839
1996 2298.589 5192.318 4909.655 4949.891 5666.866 6157.765
1997 3258.913 4618.869 2516.651 4556.81 4609.382 9307.735
1998 3287.231 3976.16 2632.682 5441.398 5369.912 6328.985
1999 2556.93 3158.382 5116.09 5890.548 6154.135 7960.491
2000 3706.281 5167.247 5932.485 4415.901 1647.027 7495.577
2001 487.504 5996.521 5637.317 5858.452 5905.13 7778.874
2002 3120.2 5101.018 3567.314 4687.718 6590.488 6270.918
2003 0 1601.108 2483.557 0 2723.76 4623.905
2004 0 3671.49 3969.674 4728.987 5471.325 1088.787
2005 851.328 3424.939 5103.85 1515.596 2792.561 7986.451
2006 3714.606 3219.494 4081.932 4811.409 4656.9 5321.767
2007 610.761 5879.862 4312.845 5050.607 5389.565 6833.522
2008 3036.562 5289.599 6668.839 4410.285 3930.677 8424.526
2009 2637.414 4903.293 4037.601 5462.108 5720.079 7130.99
2010 2089.015 6040.782

Warnings and design critique

In 1990 the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) ranked the failure of the emergency electricity generators and subsequent failure of the cooling systems of plants in seismically very active regions one of the most likely risks. The Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) cited this report in 2004. According to Jun Tateno, a former NISA scientist, TEPCO did not react to these warnings and did not respond with any measures.[33]

Film maker Adam Curtis mentioned the risks of the type of boiling water reactors cooling systems such as those in Fukushima I,[34] and claimed the risks were known since 1971[35] in a series of documentaries in the BBC in 1992 and advised that PWR type reactors should have been used.

Incidents and accidents

  • In 1978, fuel rods fell in reactor No. 3, causing a nuclear reaction.[36] It took about seven and a half hours to place the rods back into proper positions[37].
  • On February 25, 2009 a manual shutdown was initiated during the middle of a startup operation. The cause was a high pressure alarm that was caused by the shutting of a turbine bypass valve. The reactor was at 12% of full power when the alarm occurred at 4:03am due to a pressure increase to 1,029.8 psi (7,100 kPa), exceeding the regulatory limit of 1,002.2 psi (6,910 kPa) The reactor was reduced to 0% power, which exceeded the 5% threshold that requires event reporting, and pressure dropped back under the regulatory limit at 4:25am. Later, at 8:49am the control blades were completely inserted, constituting a manual reactor shutdown. An inspection then confirmed that one of the 8 bypass valves had closed and that the valve had a bad driving fluid connection. The reactor had been starting up following its 25th regular inspection which began on October 18, 2008.[38]
  • On March 26, 2009 unit 3 had problems with over-insertion of control blades during outage. Repair work was being done on equipment that regulates the driving pressure for the control blades, and when a valve was opened at 2:23pm a control blade drift alarm went off. On later inspection it was found that several of the rods had been unintentionally inserted.[39]
  • On November 2, 2010 unit 5 had an automatic SCRAM while an operator was conducting an adjustment to the control blade insertion pattern. The SCRAM was caused by a reactor low water level alarm. The turbine tripped along with the reactor and there was no radiation injury to workers.[40]

Nuclear disaster of 2011

Three of the reactors at Fukushima Daiichi overheated, causing meltdowns that eventually led to explosions, which released large amounts of radioactive material into the air.[41]

On 11 March 2011 an earthquake categorised as 9.0 MW on the moment magnitude scale occurred at 14:46 Japan Standard Time (JST) off the northeast coast of Japan. Units 4, 5 and 6 had been shut down prior to the earthquake for planned maintenance.[42][43] The remaining reactors were shut down automatically after the earthquake, and the remaining decay heat of the fuel was being cooled with power from emergency generators. The subsequent destructive tsunami with waves of up to 14 meters (the reactors were designed to handle up to 5.7 meters) disabled emergency generators required to cool the reactors. Over the following three weeks there was evidence of partial nuclear meltdowns in units 1, 2 and 3: visible explosions, suspected to be caused by hydrogen gas, in units 1 and 3; a suspected explosion in unit 2, that may have damaged the primary containment vessel; and a possible uncovering of the units 1, 3 and 4 spent fuel pools.[44] Radiation releases caused large evacuations, concern about food and water supplies, and treatment of nuclear workers.[45][46][47]

The events at units 1, 2 and 3 have been rated at Level 7 (major release of radioactive material with widespread health and environmental effects r­equiring implementation of planned and extended countermeasures) on the International Nuclear Event Scale, and those at unit 4 as Level 3 (Serious Incident) events.[48]

On 3 April 2011, two bodies were discovered in the basement turbine room most likely because the workers ran there during the tsunami.[49]


See also

2011 Earthquake-Tsunami accident

References

  1. ^ Tepco site (Japanese). One Week Plant Grounds Course.
  2. ^ "Tokyo Electric Power Co. Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station". jnes.go.jp. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
  3. ^ http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201104060126.html Fukushima No. 1 plant designed on 'trial-and-error' basis
  4. ^ Dedman, Bill (March 13, 2011). "General Electric-designed reactors in Fukushima have 23 sisters in U.S". MSNBC. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
  5. ^ Asami, Eiichi (Kyodo News), "American's Fukushima legacy lives on", Japan Times, 14 September 2011, p. 3.
  6. ^ a b c "Nuclear Reactor Maps: Fukushima-Daiichi". Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
  7. ^ "Plutonium In Fuel Rods: Cause For Concern?". National Public Radio. March 16, 2011. Retrieved March 20, 2011.
  8. ^ a b "Fukushima to Restart Using MOX Fuel for First Time". Nuclear Street. September 17, 2010. Retrieved March 12, 2011.
  9. ^ "Third Japanese reactor to load MOX". World Nuclear News meow. August 10, 2010. Retrieved March 12, 2011.
  10. ^ a b c d Brady, A. Gerald (1980). Ellingwood, Bruce (ed.). An Investigation of the Miyagi-ken-oki, Japan, earthquake of June 12, 1978. NBS special publication. Vol. 592. United States Department of Commerce, National Bureau of Standards. p. 123.
  11. ^ a b "Fact Sheet on Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant" (PDF). Nuclear Information and Resource Service. March 13, 2011. Retrieved March 13, 2011.
  12. ^ Lahey, R.T. and Moody, F.J., "The Thermal-Hydraulics of a Boiling Water Reactor", second edition, 1993.
  13. ^ Sandia National Laboratories (July 2006). "Containment Integrity Research at Sandia National Laboratories - An Overview" (PDF). U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. NUREG/CR-6906, SAND2006-2274P. Retrieved March 13, 2011. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  14. ^ "Fukushima Daiichi Information Screen". Icjt.org. Retrieved March 15, 2011.
  15. ^ Yamaguchi, Mari; Donn, Jeff (March 12, 2011). "Japan quake causes emergencies at 5 nuke reactors". Forbes. Retrieved March 12, 2011.
  16. ^ "Nuke database system: fukushima daiichi-1". ICJT Nuclear Training Centre. Retrieved March 12, 2011.
  17. ^ http://isterre.fr/IMG/pdf/acceleration_data_tentative_estimate_.pdf
  18. ^ "Fukushima faced 14-metre tsunami". World Nuclear News. March 24, 2011. Retrieved March 24, 2011.
  19. ^ "Stabilisation at Fukushima Daiichi, update 2". World Nuclear News. March 20, 2011. Retrieved March 20, 2011.
  20. ^ Yoshida, Reiji, "GE plan followed with inflexibility", Japan Times, 14 July 2011, p. 1.
  21. ^ "Fukushima plant site originally was a hill safe from tsunami". Japan Times. Retrieved September 29, 2011.
  22. ^ Asahi. Tepco Withdrawal of Plans for New Construction at Fukushima Daiichi. (Japanese)
  23. ^ a b "Reactors in operation". IAEA. December 31, 2009. Retrieved March 12, 2011.
  24. ^ a b c d e "Japan: Nuclear Power Reactors". Power Reactor Information System - PRIS. IAEA. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
  25. ^ a b "Nuclear Power in Japan". World Nuclear Association. February 24, 2011. Retrieved March 12, 2011.
  26. ^ "Heavy fallout from Japan nuclear scandal". CNN. September 2, 2002. Retrieved March 15, 2011.
  27. ^ Cooke, Stephanie (2009). In Mortal Hands: A Cautionary History of the Nuclear Age. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 388. ISBN 9781596916173.
  28. ^ "Operator of Fukushima nuke plant admitted to faking repair records". Herald Sun. March 20, 2011. Retrieved March 20, 2011.
  29. ^ a b http://www.indianexpress.com/news/iaea-warned-japan-over-nuclear-quake-risk-wikileaks/763709/ IAEA warned Japan over nuclear quake risk: WikiLeaks
  30. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8408863/Japan-tsunami-Fukushima-Fifty-the-first-interview.html Japan tsunami: Fukushima Fifty, the first interview
  31. ^ Mainichi Shimbun, "TEPCO to drop plan to add two reactors at Fukushima nuclear plant", 5 April 2011.
  32. ^ Higgins, Andrew, Washington Post, "March 26: More reactors sought for plant?", Japan Times, 7 April 2011, p. 2.
  33. ^ Makiko Kitamura, Maki Shiraki (Bloomberg, 16. März 2011): Japan's Reactor Risk Foretold 20 Years Ago in U.S. Agency Report
  34. ^ Adam Curtis (March 16, 2011). "A Is For Atom". bbc.co.uk. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved April 2, 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |kommentar= ignored (help)
  35. ^ Ralf Streck (March 22, 2011). "Notkühlprobleme von Fukushima-Reaktoren seit 1971 bekannt". Telepolis. Heise Zeitschriften Verlag. Archived from the original on April 1, 2011. Retrieved April 1, 2011.
  36. ^ NORIHIKO SHIROUZU and REBECCA SMITH (March 16, 2011). "Plant's Design, Safety Record Are Under Scrutiny". The Wall Street Journal.
  37. ^ Ikuko Kao, Japan's TEPCO admits 1978 nuclear criticality, Reuters, 22 March 2007
  38. ^ Tepco official release (Japanese).Manual shutdown during reactor startup operations in Fukushima I-1. February 2, 2009.
  39. ^ Tepco official release (Japanese). Over-insertion of control rods in Fukushima I-3.
  40. ^ Tepco official release (Japanese). Fukushima I-5 Automatic SCRAM Information.
  41. ^ Martin Fackler (June 1, 2011). "Report Finds Japan Underestimated Tsunami Danger". New York Times.
  42. ^ Black, Richard (March 15, 2011). "Reactor breach worsens prospects". BBC News. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
  43. ^ Biela Liwag. "Government Scientists on Japan Nuke Meltdown "No need to worry"". Noypi.ph. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
  44. ^ http://www.nisa.meti.go.jp/english/files/en20110327-2-2.pdf Conditions of Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station Unit 2 as of 14:00 March 27th, 2011
  45. ^ http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9M59PR00.htm Anxiety in Tokyo over radiation in tap water
  46. ^ "Radiation leak feared at nuke plant, people urged to stay indoors". Kyodo News Agency. March 15, 2011.
  47. ^ "Exposures and progress at Fukushima Daiichi". World Nuclear News. 24 march 2011. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  48. ^ "Japan Earthquake Update". IAEA. March 19, 2011.
  49. ^ Dolak, Kevin; Neal Karlinsky; Wendy Brundiage; Ryan Creed (April 3, 2011). "Two Bodies Found at Japan Nuclear Complex". ABC News. Retrieved April 3, 2011.