JAPAN'S SPENT FUEL AND PLUTONIUM MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES

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Asian Energy Security Project Meeting Beijing,
Oct 31-Nov.2, 2007
JAPAN'S SPENT FUELAND PLUTONIUM MANAGEMENT
CHALLENGES
Tadahiro Katsuta and Tatsujiro Suzuki University
of Tokyo
CONTENTS 1. Introduction 2. Spent fuel
management 3. Plutonium balance 4. Impact of
Chetsu Earthquake 5. Conclusion
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1. Introduction

• Japans Plutonium Policy Current Status
• At the end of 2006, Japan had 25.3t(f)
  (37.8t(t)) of separated plutonium in Europe
  recovered under contracts with BNFL and COGEMA
  and about 6.7t from its domestic reprocessing
  plants, i.e. the total is now 44.5 t.
• On March 31, 2006, the Rokkasho reprocessing
  plant by JNFL started active testing. If this
  plant operates at nominal capacity, about 8t of
  plutonium will be recovered annually. During
  2006, 738kg of Pu was separated at Rokkasho
  plant.
• Japanese utilities plan to recycle all plutonium,
  into existing Light Water Reactors (LWRs), but no
  single reactor has been loaded with MOX fuel as
  of May 2006.
• Therefore, it is likely that more plutonium will
  be accumulated once the Rokkasho plant starts
  operating.
• Rokkasho plant is now preparing for its full
  operation planned in early next year.

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Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant

• - Owner JNFL
• - 800 tHM /yr of capacity
• - 3,000tHM of spent fuel storage capacity.
• Active testing started March.31, 2006.
• -Plutonium separated and MOX powder was produced
  in November, 2006
• - Commercial operation early 2008

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Table 1. Amount of Spent Fuel at Each Site (As of
end of March 2004)
Reactor on-site pools are filling up
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Three types of spent fuel storage capacity
At-reactor storage
Storage capacity 16,940 tHM/16 sites On-site dry
cask storage is not allowed by local governments
(Fukushima-1 was allowed one time).
Rokkasho reprocessing plant Storage
capacity3,000tHM (Received 1,776 tHM as of April
2006) Construction cost 18 billion
Mutsu Interim storage site
Dry storage Capacity 5,000 tHM Operation
2010 (Status Planned) Construction cost 0.8
billion (including dry casks)
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Cost Estimates of Rokkasho Project (40-year life
time cost)

Report of Study Group on Cost Estimate for
Nuclear Fuel Cycle (METI, 2004)
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Cost Comparison of Fuel Cycle Options by Japan
Atomic Energy Commission (2004)
Assumes that all nuclear power plants would be
shut down due to shortage of spent fuel storage
capacity and have to be replaced with
fossil-fueled power plants.
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Comparison of projected cumulative spent fuel
discharges with currently planned storage
capacity
2024
2028
Figure 1. Cumulative inventory and management of
spent fuel in the future
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Spent fuel storage Inflexibilities

• Although total spent fuel storage capacity is
  large enough to store spent fuel up to mid-2020s,
  inflexibilities of spent fuel storage management
  make situation more complex
• No transfer of spent fuel between utilities is
  allowed.
• Storage pool at Rokkasho plant (3,000tU) is
  divided into three sections 1,000tU of PWR spent
  fuel, 1,000tU of BWR spent fuel and 1,000tU for
  either type of spent fuel.
• Mutsu interim storage facility (5,000 tU) owned
  by only two utilities TEPCO (4000 tons), and
  JAPCO (1,000tU).
• As a result, some utilities with PWRs may face
  shortage of spent fuel storage as early as 2014.
• Local mayors and governor of Aomori demand that
  the recycling program continue in order to
  guarantee that spent fuel will be removed from
  the site within 50 years.

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3. Plutonium balance
Current stockpile
Figure 3. Management of plutonium (As of March
2004)
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Japans Pu Stockpile (2006)
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81tPu
74tPu
81tPu
37tPu
48tPu
6tPu
Figure 4. Future plutonium stockpile until 2020
Assumption (a) Oversea Pu used first (b) Overseas
Pu not recycled before 2020 (c) Operation of
Rokkasho postponed After 2005 Demand MOX
fuel From 2012, 9.3 tPu/year/plants x18 plants
Monju re-start from
2010, 0.47tPU/year Supply
Rokkasho reprocessing plant start from 2006
(2 -6tPu/year
from 2006-2009, 8tPu/year from 2010)
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Progress of MOX fuel program as of September 2006
?
?
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Japan's stockpile of separated plutonium
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Plutonium Balance Change in Japan (2006)
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Plutonium stockpile owned by Utilities (as of
September 2006, tonPuf)
Unit tons of fissile Plutonium

• ??22????16-18??MOX??????????
• ?????????????MOX????????????MOX???????????????????
  MOX??????????

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Utilities Pu stockpile in Japan(kgPuf)
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Impact of Advanced Fuel Cycle (GNEP)
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Impact of Advanced Fuel Cycle(GNEP)
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Chuetsu Earthquake and its impact on
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Plant(1)

• Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is the biggest nuclear plant
  site in Japan, hosting 7 units, total of 7965 MWe
  net capacity.
• On July 16, 2007, a strong earthquake occurred at
  1013 am, with a magnitude of M 6.8(JMA scale).
  Its epicenter was about 16 km north of the site,
  and its hypocenter below the seabed of the
  Jo-chuetsu area in Niigata (37.33N, 138.37E)
• At that time, four reactors were in operation
  (Unit 2,3,4,and 7), and the other three (Unit
  1,5, and 6) were in shutdown for planned outages.
• All of them are now shutdown and safety
  investigation has started, and it is not clear
  when plants will be back into operation

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Chuetsu Earthquake and its impact on
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Plant(2)
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Siting in Japan would be more difficult
Source Katsuhiko Ishibashi, Nuclear Plant
safety from viewpoint of Seismic Conditions,
(2003
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Design Base Earthquake and Actual Responses
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Niigata Earthquake and its Impacts on
Kashiwazaki-Kariha Nuclear Plant
Source Tokyo Electric Power
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Impact of Earthquake

• TEPCO lost 7GW of planned nuclear capacity, and
  there was concern about supply during summer
  peak.
• Estimated peak was 61-65 GW and total planned
  capacity without nuclear was 58 GW
• Emergency power supply arrangements plus start up
  of old power plants added up about 4.7 GW, and
  finally peak demand conservation contract saved
  its peak ( 1GW), and peak was finally met.
• TEPCO lost about 600 billion yen(5.5 bill) due
  to the earthquake, resulting in estimated 95
  billion yen loss for FY 2007.
• Future repair cost is uncertain
• Need to purchase CO2 credit from overseas

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HLW Disposal Issues

• Voluntary siting process of HLW disposal facility
• In Jan, 2007, Mayor of Toyo-town of Kochi
  Prefecture officially requested investigation of
  feasibility of HLW disposal facility (first such
  request made by a town)
• The town would receive \1 billion just for this
  investigation.
• The proposal was accepted by
• METI, but local opposition
• stopped the process
• In Oct. 2007, METI adv. comm.
• proposed to modify the process
• Govt can propose to local
• community

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Conclusions (1)

• Japan continues its reprocessing program, and the
  Rokkasho reprocessing plant separated 0.7 ton of
  plutonium during its test operation.
• Meanwhile plutonium recycling program has made
  little progress.
• As a result, Japans plutonium stockpile has
  steadily increased to 44.5 ton.
• The introduction of advanced fuel cycle would
  increase cost of fuel cycle and will not likely
  to reduce area requirements.

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CONCLUSION (2)

• The Chuestu earthquake and shutdown of all 7
  nuclear plants at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa site have
  had significant impact on Japans nuclear debate.
• Safety concerns remain, and future of KK plants
  are uncertain
• Financial risk and CO2 emission increase are also
  sources of concern