16 January, 2020
Japan’s Nuclear Power Plant Capacity Factor Stood at Just 21.4 Percent Last Year
According to data gathered by Atoms in Japan (AIJ) from all the power utilities in Japan, the capacity factor for all nuclear power plants (NPPs) nationwide in 2019 stood at just 21.4 percent. The total generated electricity by all the companies was 68.5TWh.
After the tsunami-caused accident at the Fukushima Daiichi NPPs in March 2011, the full-year nationwide capacity factor hit zero in 2014, owing to the across-the-board suspension of NPP operation. Thanks to the gradual restart of those suspended plants, the capacity factor figure was able to recover to the level of 20 percent recorded in 2019.
Although no further NPPs were restarted last year, the total generated electricity in Japan actually increased 33.1 percent from the previous year, on account of the suspension of operations at several plants stemming from court decisions.
In September 2019, operations officially ceased at the Fukushima Daini-1 to -4 NPPs, owned by the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO). Five months earlier, in April, operations also ended at the Genkai-2 NPP, ow...more
- 13 December, 2019 NRA Approves Decommissioning Plans for Kansai EP’s Ohi-1 and-2
- 29 November, 2019 NRA Issues Draft Review Report: Onagawa-2 Meets New Regulatory Standards
- 10 September, 2019 Kyushu Electric Power Files Decommissioning Plan for Genkai-2 and Seeks Change to Genkai-1 Plan, with Work on Both to Proceed Simultaneously
- 4 September, 2019 White Paper on Nuclear Energy Features Decommissioning, Accumulation of Technology as “Great Assets” for the Future
- 29 August, 2019 TEPCO to Decide Fate of Kashiwazaki Kariwa Units 1 to 5 Five Years after Restarting Units 6 and 7
- 29 August, 2019 TEPCO, Chubu Electric Power, Hitachi, Toshiba Considering Joint Business for BWRs
- 9 August, 2019 NRA Exchanges Views with President Sakamoto of RFS, Which Pledges to Make Its Utmost Efforts
- 8 August, 2019 TEPCO Decides to Decommission All Four Fukushima Daini Units
- 2 August, 2019 Tohoku Electric Power Applies for Approval of Onagawa-1 Decommissioning Plan
- 1 August, 2019 NRA Deliberates Response by Takahama NPPs against Potential Tsunamis Caused by Underwater Landslides
- 7 March, 2019 JAIF President Takahashi Hopes “Considerate Activities” Will Be Made toward Restarting Tokai-2 to Promote Understanding
- 12 February, 2019 Kansai EP Reviews and Pushes Back Completion Dates for Safety Improvement Work at Three NPPs Granted Extended Lifetimes
- 1 February, 2019 JAEA Achieves 150 Hours of Continuous Hydrogen Production Toward Utilization of Heat from HTGRs
25 December, 2019
ANRE Committee Clarifies Options for Treated Contaminated Water at Fukushima Daiichi NPPs, Viewing Both Offshore and Vapor Release Favorably
At a meeting on December 23, a governmental committee addressing the handling of treated contaminated water at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) presented its conclusions thus far. The committee is part of the Agency for Natural Resources & Energy (ANRE), which falls under Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).
When contaminated water is purified by multi-nuclide removal equipment (the Advanced Liquid Processing System, or ALPS), the remaining water still contains tritium. So far, the water from Fukushima Daiichi has been stored continually in storage tanks.
With almost no more land available for the construction of more tanks, however, the committee has been considering what to do with the additional water once such tanks can no longer be used. C...more
