Summary
The Shika Nuclear Power Plant (志賀原子力発電所, Shika genshiryoku hatsudensho, Shika NPP) is a nuclear power plant located in the town of Shika, Ishikawa, Japan. It is owned and operated by the Hokuriku Electric Power Company. It consists of two units with a total capacity of 1.746 GW on a site that is 1.6 km2 (395 acres).[1] Both units were put in a temporary shutdown in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster and received safety upgrades to comply with stricter regulatory requirements. As of 2023, Hokuriku aims to restart the plant in 2026.
| Shika Nuclear Power Plant | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Country | Japan |
| Coordinates | 37°03′40″N 136°43′35″E / 37.06111°N 136.72639°E |
| Status | Out of service |
| Construction began | July 1, 1989 |
| Commission date | July 30, 1993 |
| Operator(s) | Hokuriku Electric Power Company |
| Nuclear power station | |
| Reactor type | 1 x BWR 1 x ABWR |
| Cooling source | Sea of Japan |
| Power generation | |
| Units operational | 1 x 540 MW 1 x 1206 MW |
| Nameplate capacity | 1746 MW |
| Capacity factor | 0 |
| Annual net output | 0 GW·h |
| External links | |
| Website | www |
| Commons | Related media on Commons |
The Hokuriku Technology Museum on nuclear power is located next to the plant site.
History edit
Construction edit
Construction of the first unit was started on July 1, 1989 and finished in three years. The reactor reached its first criticality on November 20, 1992 and went into commercial operation on July 30, 1993.[2] Construction of the second unit was started on August 20, 2001 and finished in three years. The reactor reached its first criticality on May 26, 2005 and went into commercial operation on March 15, 2006.[3] Both units use boiling water reactors from Hitachi.
Operation edit
Unit 1 supplied an average of 3600 GWh of electricity to the grid yearly during the first ten years of operation with a peak production of 4432 GWh in 1997.[4]
On June 18, 1999 during an inspection, an emergency control rod insertion was to be performed on Unit 1. One rod was to be inserted into the reactor, however, due to improper following of the procedure, instead of one rod inserting, 3 rods withdrew. For the next 15 minutes, the reactor was in a critical state (producing heat). This event was not revealed until March 15, 2007, since it was covered up in the records. Unit 1 was subsequently shut down from March 2007 to March 2009, during judicial and bureaucratic evaluation.[5] In April 2007 the event had been provisionally categorized as an INES level-2 incident.[6] A lower court had ordered the entire plant to be shut down, but that decision was later overturned by Nagoya's high court. The utility put in a request to the Ishikawa prefectural government and the town of Shika for the restart of unit 1.[7] The unit returned to power on May 11, 2009 and resumed commercial operation on May 13.[8]
Unit 2 reached a peak yearly electricity production of 9279 GWh in 2010.
Temporary shutdown edit
Following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, the plant was temporarily shut down in March 2011 to make changes in order to comply with new regulatory requirements.[9]
Construction of a reinforced concrete wall that should shield the reactors against a possible tsunami was started in October 2011. The wall was designed 4 meters high and 700 meters long, 11 meters above sea level. This was done to comply with extra governmental instructions ordered after the Fukushima accident. Next to this a new drainage gate was installed to minimize damage to plant facilities in case seawater would be able to climb over the wall and would submerge the plant. Other emergency safety measures included the installing of an extra pump to cool the reactors with seawater and an extra power source to operate a valve for venting steam out of reactors. Construction was expected to be completed by the end of March 2013.[10]
After finishing the safety upgrades, permission for the restart of unit 2 from the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) was first sought in August 2014.[11] The NRA safety review was however delayed considerably over the determination of whether there are active geological faults underneath the site, which lasted until March 2023, when it was concluded that there are no such faults. Following these results, Hokuriku Electric submitted an application with a plan to restart unit 2 in early 2026. Unit 1 is to follow soon afterwards.[9][12]
In January 2024 the plant was closest to a magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Ishikawa Prefecture, and survived the event with no major damage. Some water from a spent fuel pool spilled over during the earthquake.[13]
Reactors on site edit
| Unit | Type | Commission date | Electric Power | Thermal Power | Maker |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shika – 1 | BWR-5 | July 30, 1993[2] | 540 MW | 1,593 MW | Hitachi |
| Shika – 2 | ABWR | March 15, 2006[3] | 1,358 MW | 3,926 MW | Hitachi |
See also edit
References edit
- ^ Hokuriku Power. Shika NPP information sheet.
- ^ a b "Shika 1, Japan". World Nuclear Association.
- ^ a b "Shika 2, Japan". World Nuclear Association.
- ^ "SHIKA-1". Power Reactor Information System.
- ^ "Shika 1 restarted for tests". World Nuclear News. 2009-03-30.
- ^ "Shika 1 criticality rated at INES 2". world-nuclear-news.org. 2007-04-23. Retrieved 2017-03-06.
- ^ Reuters. Japan's Hokuriku seeks local OK for nuclear restart. March 18, 2009.
- ^ NucNet. Japan’s Shika-1 Returns To Service Archived 2011-10-04 at the Wayback Machine. May 22, 2009.
- ^ a b "Shika 2, Japan". www.world-nuclear.org. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
- ^ JAIF (5 October 2011)Earthquake-report 226: Construction of seawall begins at nuclear plant Archived 2011-10-28 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Safety review sought for Shika 2". World Nuclear News. 2014-08-12.
- ^ "Hokuriku Elec puts plan to restart Shika No.2 reactor in 2026 in price hike application". Reuters. 2023-10-24.
- ^ "'No abnormalities' reported at Japanese nuclear plants following earthquake". World Nuclear News. 2024-01-02.
External links edit
- Ishikawa Prefecture Nuclear Emergency Plans 石川県原子力安全対策室
- Environment radiation monitoring 環境放射線モニタリング
- Hokuriku Electric Company 北陸電力
- Information Regarding the 1999 Event 志賀原子力発電所１号機 第５回定期検査期間中に発生した原子炉緊急停止について(PDF)
- Noto Hanto earthquake (Japan)