Monju is the name of a sodium-cooled fast breeder reactor located at the Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant in the Fukui Prefecture of Japan. Monju uses mixed oxide fuel (MOX) that is a combination of uranium and plutonium. It has three coolant loops and is capable of producing two hundred and eighty megawatts. Construction began in 1986 and first criticality was achieved in 1994.

       Monju has a breeding ratio of 1.2. This means that as the fuel is burned, more fissile atoms are produced than are consumed. In other words, this is what is called a breeder reactor because it “breeds”  or make more fuel than it consumes.

       There was a fire in late 1995 caused by a sodium leak which shut down the reactor. After the fire, there was a scandal because the operators did not accurately report the scope of the fire and damage. The resulting controversy and public outrage delayed restarting the reactor. In 2000, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) announced that they were going to restart Monju. Public resistance led to major battles in Japanese courts. Finally, in 2005, the Japanese Supreme Court overruled a lower court ruling and authorized the restart of Monju.

       The fuel had to be replaced because of radioactive decay. Monju was scheduled to restart in 2009 but the restart was delayed  because holes were found in an auxiliary building. Finally, the reactor was tested and resumed operations in May of 2010.  During a routine fuel replacement operation in August of 2010, a three ton fuel transfer machine was accidentally dropped into the reactor vessel. It took until June of 2011 to pull the dropped machine back out of the reactor vessel. Restarting the reactor was delayed until mid-2012 due in part to the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March of 2011. In June of 2012, there was a problem with the heater for molten sodium in a secondary coolant loop but it was not considered a major problem and was not made public until much later.

       The Japanese Nuclear Regulatory Agency in a 2013 series of safety inspections discovered that thousands of pieces of equipment at Monju had not been properly inspected. Safety inspections in 2014 revealed more equipment that had not been inspected. In 2015, it was discovered that the mandated assessments of degradation in the thickness of sodium pipes had not been carried out since 2007. All of these problems delayed restart of Monju for testing and operation.

      There have calls for Monju to be permanently shut down but the Japanese ministry that oversees Monju is opposed to that option. In November of 2015, Japan’s NRA demanded that the JAEA be replaced as operator of Monju within six months or that the reactor be decommissioned. By this time, Monju had been operational and produce power for less than one year by twenty years after its construction. To date, Monju has cost close to ten billion dollars.

        There has been a great deal of research and development in other countries on sodium-cooled fast breeder reactors for decades but this technology is very complex and has not been perfected to the point where it is commercially viable. Perhaps it is time to give up on this type of fast breeder reactor.

Monju reactor:

Yucca Mountain – Sacred Native Land & Proposed Nuclear Waste Dump farmwars.info

Democratic frontrunner attacks Trump’s ‘personal feuds and outright lies’ in blistering speech that questions GOP candidate’s suitability for the White House.  theguardian.com

At a plenary session on 1 June, the Nuclear Safety Council (Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear, CSN) issued a favorable decision on the renewal of the Juzbado nuclear fuel fabrication plant’s operating and manufacturing permits, which were due to expire next month. world-nuclear-news.org

Britain’s Office of Nuclear Regulation (ONR) on Friday said it had granted its consent to allow the EDF Energy Nuclear Generation LTD to return the Sizewell B nuclear power station to service following a statutory periodic shut down for maintenance, inspection and refueling. Concerns had been raised over the integrity of the reactor vessel after it was found that some other steel vessels manufactured by the Le Creusot foundry in France contained too much carbon which weakened them. nuclearstreet.com

 

 

        The Columbia Generation Station (CGS) is a nuclear power reactor near Richland, Washington. The CGS was built by the Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS) which was renamed Energy Northwest in 2000. Construction began in 1975. Because of cost overrun and construction delays, it did not begin producing power for Washington until late 1984. It is licensed to operate until 2043.

        Of the five power reactors originally planned by WPPSS, the CGS was the only one that was ever completed. The CGS produces almost twelve hundred megawatts of electricity which represents about ten percent of the electricity consumed in the state. The city of Seattle, Washington current gets about four percent of its electricity from the CGS.

          Opponents of nuclear power have pushed to have Seattle stop buying any electricity at all from the CGS. They  say that the CGS is not being safely operated and is vulnerable to earthquakes. On May 24, the Energy & Environmental Committee of the Seattle City Council voted in favor of a resolution of non-support for CGS brought forward by Kshama Sawant, a Socialist recently elected to the City Council.

Summary of the resolution: “This is a resolution stating the City of Seattle’s support for clean and safe electricity production and opposition to the use of fossil fuels and new nuclear energy in the generation of electricity, and requiring an ongoing evaluation of existing nuclear power generation on the basis of health, safety, reliability, and cost; and instructing that the City of Seattle’s City Light Department reflect this position in its policies and interactions with other utilities, federal and state agencies, and organizations of which it is a member or participant.”

          Following the committee vote, Sawant said ” On May 24, 2016, the Energy & Environment Committee unanimously voted in favor of the resolution I brought forward, drafted by environmental activists from Physicians for Social Responsibility, Heart of America Northwest, and others from the anti-nuclear movement. It calls on Seattle City Light to oppose the Columbia Generating Station, the sole nuclear power plant in the Pacific Northwest, and to support replacing it with green energy.”

         “The resolution itself is quite mild. It has compromise language to get the support of City Light’s leadership and the Mayor’s Office. It does not, itself, shut down the Columbia Generating Station. It is a tool that activists are confident they can use to put pressure on all those who decide the fate of the Columbia Generating Station, including representatives from City Light.”

       On May 31, the full Seattle City Council voted in favor of the Sawant resolution.

       Following the City Council action, a representative of the CGS said ” “Yesterday’s resolution doesn’t amount to much; it’s kind of irrelevant for those genuinely concerned about our state’s energy future. The council vote was unfortunate. We don’t believe Seattle is anti-nuclear or anti-clean energy per se. They just got a lot of really bad info yesterday that went unchallenged, and, unfortunately, they acted on it.”

TEPCO reported last week that roughly 10% of the frozen wall is not working. Currently only certain sections are being actively frozen with other sections to possibly be frozen as they determine the cause and effect of the initial work. fukuleaks.org

The IAEA Low Enriched Uranium Storage Facility – or ‘bank’ – is scheduled to be ready for operations by September 2017, following the conclusion of a partnership agreement between the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Ulba Metallurgical Plant in Kazakhstan this week. world-nuclear-news.org

The Oglala Sioux Tribe and activists scored a win on May 26, when federal administrative judges ruled that Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff has failed to take “a hard look” at cultural resources in recommending renewal of a uranium mining license for Crow Butte Mine, near here. The decision delays permitting. nsweekly.com

Exelon announced today that it will move forward with the early retirement of two nuclear power plants in Illinois – Clinton and Quad Cities – due to a lack of progress on the state’s energy policy. world-nuclear-news.org

 

        The VIII International Forum ATOMEXPO 2016 was held on May 30th – June 1st of 2016 in Moscow, Russia. ATOMEXPO is the “largest exhibition venue for meetings and negotiations between world leaders of the nuclear power sector.” “The goal of the Forum is to promote international cooperation between the Russian Federation and the countries of Latin America, Pacific Asia, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe in the field of nuclear power, and to discuss Russia’s proposal on developing national energy programs.”

        Rosatom, the government owned nuclear company said that at ATOMEXPO, thirty documents were signed between clients and Rosatom dealing with nuclear fuel, project finance, human resources and international cooperation for the peaceful use of nuclear energy. Bolivia, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zambia all signed agreement with Rosatom at the expo. Ultimately, the deals signed at the expo may be worth as much as ten billion dollars.

       Zambia signed agreements with Rosatom that deal with the establishment of a nuclear technology training center and training of Zambian nuclear technicians in Russia. The Zambia agreement also covers opportunities for the construction of nuclear power facilities in Zambia.

      Rosatom and Kenya signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that covers developing nuclear infrastructure, nuclear research, design and construction of power and research reactors, production and use of radioisotopes, management of radioactive waste, and education of specialists in nuclear technology.

     The Rusatom International Network (a subsidiary of Rosatom) and the National Nuclear Center of the Republic of Kazakhstan signed a MoU to cooperate on the exchange of information about experience in the peaceful use of nuclear power, including development of human resources and joint education program, research and development, and environmental programs.

      Rusatom Services (a subsidiary of Rosatom) signed a MoU with the Czech Republic company Skoda JS dealing with services relating to the modernization and extension of operational lifetimes of the aging Czech reactor fleet. The agreement also covers cooperation in the completion of two power reactors at the Mochovce nuclear power plant in Slovakia. The two companies will be collaborating on supplying services for maintenance, repair, operation support and supply of equipment and spare parts for nuclear power plants around the world.

    The Regional Network for Education in Nuclear Technology (STAR-NET) is a collaboration between educational institutions and nuclear industry training centers in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine to facilitate education, professional training and promote knowledge transfer in the nuclear sector. STAR-NET signed documents on cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency at the expo.

      Rosatom’s nuclear fuel manufacturer TVEL signed a “roadmap”  for cooperation on the nuclear fuel cycle with Indonesia’s National Atomic Energy Agency. TVEL may supply nuclear fuel to a research reactor in Indonesia. 

      Rosatom and the French energy company Engie signed a MoU on cooperation to maintain and upgrade nuclear power plants that are based on Russian and non-Russia designs.

       The Rusatom International Network signed a MoU with Assystem, a French engineering group, dealing with nuclear engineering and certification in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and other countries. The agreement also covered a mutual interest in participating in the construction of new reactors in third countries, the decommissioning of old reactors and the management of nuclear waste.

 

North Korea’s intention to carry on with its nuclear and missile programs cannot be tolerated, Japan’s chief envoy to stalled six-party talks for denuclearizing North Korea said on Wednesday after talks with U.S. and South Korean counterparts. reuters.com

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with high-level North Korean party officials in Beijing on Wednesday, in a sign that the two sides are trying to repair their longtime amity amid continued tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions. wsj.com

Iran’s foreign minister says the nuclear deal reached last year with world powers can’t be renegotiated despite Republican presidential contender Donald Trump’s pledge to do so if elected. usanews.com

A new approach to nuclear structure cuts amount of computational power required. sciencedaily.com

 

         Apple has been working on setting up a new billion dollar data center at Derrydonnell, Ireland to serve northwestern Europe. Now there is a controversy over the proximity of the proposed data center to nuclear power reactors. Apple documents state that Apple wanted any Irish data center to be at least two hundred miles away from any nuclear facility. Opponents of the planned location on the west coast of Ireland point out that the site is less than the two hundred miles away from nuclear facilites as called for in the Apple internal documents.

         The critics of the planned site say that Apple does not require a two hundred mile exclusion zone for data center in the U.S. They also point out that no other international corporations have adopted such an exclusion zone. They claim that Apple chose the two hundred mile exclusion zone in order to eliminate other suitable sites in Ireland. Both Google and Microsoft have data centers in Dublin, Ireland which is definitely inside the Apply declared two hundred mile exclusion zone.

        Oscar Gonzales, in charge of Apple site selection, responded to the critics complaints. He said that older data centers sites in the U.S. were selected before the nuclear disaster at Fukushima in 2011 highlighted the need for better protection of critical infrastructure such as data centers from nuclear accidents. He also said that Apple cannot speak for the site selection criteria that other corporations might use for data centers. However, he also said that there are multiple selection criteria and that if other criteria conflict with the two hundred mile exclusion zone rule, then it might not be applied rigorously.

         Gonzales said that the proposed data center site is about one hundred and ninety miles from the Wylfa nuclear facility is Wales which has been shut down. It is about two hundred and fifty miles from the operating uranium reprocessing plant at Sellafield in England. The Business Insider made its own measurement of the distances. The BI says that the Derrydonnell site is about one hundred and seventy five miles from the Wylfa site and about two hundred and thirty miles from the Sellafield plant.

          Critics of the Apply site also say that that site has not been designated for use as a data center site as opposed to other sites in Ireland that Apple has rejected. Some critics are also concerned about the possible impact of the proposed data center on bats and badgers in the area. Apple would probably say that some of it opponents are looking for any excuse to prevent the construction of their new data center at Derrydonnell.

         An engineer who consults for the Business Insider on energy requirements for major data centers claims that Apple is very selective in how and when it applies it supposed criterion for site selection. He claims that none of Apple’s existing sites meet all of their announced criterion. Apple responded that criterion for data center site selection have changed over time and that sometimes compromises must be made with respect to site selection.