POWER September 2016 - 8

Japan Extends Reactor
Lifetimes for First Time
Since Fukushima
Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority
(NRA) this June approved 20-year license
extensions for the aging Takahama 1 and
2 reactors, a first for the power-strapped
country that has been conflicted about
the future of its nuclear power plants
since the Fukushima Daiichi catastrophe
in 2011.
A regulatory system established in the
aftermath of Fukushima limits the operating
lives of Japanese nuclear units to 40
years, though it allows a one-time extension
of no more than 20 years. The NRA's
approval to allow the 40-year-old Takahama
1 and 39-year-old Takahama 2 to operate
an additional 20 years was carried out
as an " extraordinary case. " Kansai Electric
Power Co., which owns the two 826-MW
reactors, filed applications for the extensions
in April 2015, as well as for its 826MW
Mihama 3 reactor in November 2015,
saying that they were " important " for its
business.
Under its revised long-term energy plan,
Japan anticipates getting between 20%
and 22% of its total generated electricity
from nuclear power by 2030, and industry
groups like the Japan Atomic Industrial
Forum have argued that the lifetime extensions
will be integral to meeting that
target.
Four of the nation's nuclear power
plants idled after Fukushima have so
far cleared the new regulatory standards
required to resume operations, but only
Sendai 1 and 2, which are owned and
operated by Kyushu Electric Power Co.,
are online. Kansai started up its Takahama
3 reactor on January 29 and Takahama
4 on February 26, but it took Unit
4 offline just three days later following
a " main transformer/generator internal
failure " (Figure 1). It was then forced
to halt operations at Unit 3 on March 10
after Japan's Otsu District Court issued a
temporary injunction against the operation
of both reactors because, the court
said, the safety of the units could not
be guaranteed. On July 12, Otsu District
Court Judge Yoshihiko Yamamoto rejected
Kansai's request to lift the injunction.
Kansai now says that-though it
has filed to appeal the court's decision
1. One step forward, two steps back. While Japan's Kansai Electric Power Co. received
Nuclear Regulation Authority approval to extend the lifetimes of Units 1 and 2 at its
Takahama Nuclear Power Plant in Oi District, Fukui Prefecture, to 60 years, it has been forced to
halt operations at Units 3 and 4 by a temporary injunction issued by a district court. Courtesy:
Kansai Electric
to the Osaka High Court-it will begin
removing nuclear fuel from the reactor
cores.
Meanwhile, applications for 22 more
nuclear plant restarts have been filed with
the NRA. According to a 2017 economic
and energy outlook released by the Institute
of Energy Economics of Japan (IEEJ)
in late July, at least 12 nuclear power
plants should be restarted next year. The
research group notes, however, that those
projections are clouded by a number of
issues, including court judgments and local
agreements. That uncertainty could
come at a significant cost to the nation,
it added.
" Because of the judicial ruling that
ceased operations at the Takahama Unit
No. 3 and 4, it is important to analyse
the effect of stopping operations of
nuclear power plants from a local point
of view, " the IEEJ's outlook says. " As a
rule, if one nuclear plant with the capacity
of 1 MW stops operation for one
year in an area where annual demand is
about 100 TWh, total fossil fuel costs
increase by [$594 million] and the energy-related
[carbon dioxide] emissions
increases by 4 Mt-CO2
(7% increase for
the local emissions). The average electricity
unit cost will increase by [$3.96/
MWh] (1.8% rise of the average power
unit price). "
Interest Builds for DONG
Energy's Bioresource
Power Technology
Danish firm DONG Energy has begun building
one of the world's first bioresource
power plants that will produce electricity
from household waste by using enzymes
to convert the waste to biogas.
The commercial 5-MW plant under
construction in the UK city of Northwich
could be commissioned in early 2017. It
will use the company's proprietary REnescience
technology, which has been tested
at a demonstration plant in Copenhagen
since 2009.
The process involves mechanical sorting
of residual waste arriving at the plant
to remove recyclable and inert materials.
Using REnescience technology, enzymes
supplied by commercial bioenergy firm
Novozymes under an $80 million contract
are then used to remove organic material
from the waste in a low-intensity process.
" The enzymes are mixed together
8
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POWER September 2016

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