The Daily Manila Shimbun

 

Tohoku Electric May Scrap Onagawa N-Plant No. 1 Reactor

September 28, 2018



Sendai, Miyagi Pref.- Tohoku Electric Power Co. is considering decommissioning the No. 1 reactor at its Onagawa nuclear power plant in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, President Hiroya Harada said Thursday.

The company will make its decision after examining expected costs for additional safety measures needed to clear the country's new nuclear plant safety standards introduced after the 2011 meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s <9501> Fukushima No. 1 power plant.

Tohoku Electric owns four reactors--three at the Onagawa plant and one at the Higashidori plant in Aomori Prefecture, also northeastern Japan.

If the company decides to scrap the Onagawa plant's No. 1 reactor, it would be the first one among the four to be decommissioned.

The 524,000-kilowatt reactor entered commercial operation in June 1984. It is a boiling water reactor, the same type as the meltdown-hit units at the TEPCO plant.

The No. 1 reactor has remained idle since it stopped automatically following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

The reactor is "one generation older" than the Onagawa plant's No. 2 unit, which began commercial operation in 1995, Harada told a press conference.

Currently, the Nuclear Regulation Authority is checking whether the No. 2 reactor and the Higashidori plant's No. 1 unit meet the new safety standards.

As for the No. 3 reactor at the Onagawa plant, Tohoku Electric is preparing to file for NRA safety screenings, though it cannot say when to make such an application, Harada said. Jiji Press