The last week in Japan brought positive news at Fukushima Daiichi – where Tokyo Electric Power Co. said an underground tank leak was much smaller than originally thought – and bad news for two other nuclear plants, where decisions by regulators are likely to keep them offline.Recent developments related to the 2011 nuclear accidents that followed Japan's earthquake and tsunami include:Underground Tank Leak Overestimated On Thursday, TEPCO announced that closer inspection showed one of Fukushima's underground tanks holding radioactive water leaked about 20 liters, as opposed to 120 metric tons as estimated earlier, Kyodo reported. Two other underground tanks are also leaking, and TEPCO has been moving the water into above-ground storage.Regulator Questions Safety of Tsuruga Plant, Monju Breeder ReactorTwo other plants confronted decisions by Japan's new nuclear regulator Wednesday that threaten their operation in the future. The Nuclear Regulation Authority said it considers a fault underneath a reactor at Japan Atomic Power Co.'s Tsuruga plant to be active. The new agency lacks the authority to force the plant's decommissioning, but the Yomiuri Shimbun reported the NRA's chairman said the agency did not plan to carry out safety inspections required for it to restart. The agency might reopen the issue if more seismic data becomes available.The NRA also halted a proposed test run of the Monju breeder reactor, the Japan Times reported. The agency said almost 10,000 components at the plant went uninspected, and that the Japan Atomic Energy Agency facility suffered from poor communication and management. Monju is a sodium-cooled fast breeder reactor that uses recycled MOX fuel. It began operating in 1994 as a research facility but was shut down for 14 years following a sodium fire in 1995. When the Fukushima accidents idled nearly all of Japan's reactors, Monju was preparing to restart after repairing damage from a fuel-loading device that fell into its reactor vessel.
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In truth, the Monju decision doesn't bother me much. I've always viewed fast liquid metal reactors as a bit more twitchy than makes me comfortable. The same overall effects (sustainability, SNF reduction) can be achieved with Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors.
