The outlet nearly all the time discharges 130 tons per second of seawater used to cool the plant's steam turbines at the velocity of 4 to 5 meters per second
- Edited by Linton Levy -
According to a report in Denki Shimbun, the Sendai nuclear power station operated by Kyushu Electric Power Co., Inc. has recently started a power generation experiment by installing a water turbine at its water outlet.
The outlet nearly all the time discharges 130 tons per second of seawater used to cool the plant's steam turbines at the velocity of 4 to 5 meters per second. The power station started the experiment in response to input from visitors on plant tours, who asked a question if the plant could harness the energy of the discharged water.
The water turbine is about three meters in diameter and one meter in height. It was installed in September this year, and a small automobile generator was added this month. The generated electricity is currently used only for powering an electronic signboard that indicates that the water turbine is generating power. After the completion of the experiment, the plant will replace the generator with one with a higher output and consider various applications such as electric vehicle recharging.
Kyushu Electric Power Co., the monopoly power supplier to Japan's southwestern island of Kyushu, will spend 540 billion yen ($5.9 billion) to build a third nuclear reactor at the Sendai station.
Kyushu Electric wants nuclear power to account for about half of its output, compared with 41 percent last year. Japan, the world's third-biggest oil consumer, is adding nuclear power generation to strengthen security of energy supplies and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.
A feasibility study that started in 2003 and completed last month showed that it was environmentally viable to add the reactor, Kyushu Electric said in the statement.