Japan’s Chugoku Electric Power Company has submitted to the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) an amendment to its decommissioning plan for unit 1 of its Shimane NPP.
Chugoku submitted its decommissioning plan in April last year, detailing the facilities and equipment to be dismantled and a timetable for completing the work. Chugoku said on 14 February it had submitted an amendment following feedback from NRA on its original plan.
The company has added sections confirming decommissioning would not interfere with the safe operation of unit 2 at the plant. In addition, used fuel stored at the site would not be damaged in the event of a loss of cooling water in the fuel storage pools, it said. Chugoku also provided the NRA with further details about how the equipment at Shimane 1 will be maintained during the unit's decommissioning. Decommissioning of Shimane is expected to be completed by March 2046.
Chugoku submitted an application to NRA in December 2013 seeking approval to restart Shimane 2, a 791MWe boiling water reactor (BWR) - one of 20 reactors moving through the NRA inspection process.
Unit 1 is a 460MWe BWR that started commercial operation in March 1974, It is among five reactors officially taken out of service in April 2015, following the introduction of an accounting-related system earlier that month to determine which units should not be restarted. The other units included Kansai Electric Power Company's Mihama units 1& 2, Japan Atomic Power Company's Tsuruga 1, and Kyushu Electric Power Company's Genkai 1.
Kansai, which submitted its decommissioning plan for Mihama 1 and 2 to the NRA in February 2016, has submitted similar amendments to its original plan in response to NRA feedback.
