U.S. nuclear plant servicing company EnergySolutions Inc., said it had signed a collaborative agreement with the Japan Atomic Power Company (JAPC) to decommission light water nuclear power plants in Japan.
As part of the agreement, EnergySolutions said it would share its decommissioning and decontamination experience and capabilities with JAPC for use at the Tsuruga Unit 1 in Japan. In addition, the company said, “to ensure successful implementation of this agreement, JAPC personnel will participate in the D&D (decommissioning and decontamination) project currently being preformed at the Zion Nuclear Power Station located north of Chicago.”
Subsequently, EnergySolutions personnel will join the JAPC Tsuruga Unit 1 project team in Japan to support effective knowledge transfer and implementation of EnergySolutions' experience and expertise.
The Zion NPP is a dual-reactor facility that was completed in 1973 with the two reactors coming online in December 1973 and September 1974, respectively. The units were retired in February 1998.
EnergySolutions took over the decommission project from Exelon in August 2010.
The Tsuruga NPP is both a decommissioning site and the potential site for two new reactors, which are planned for the facility in Fukui Prefecture. Construction has not begun on those reactors, however. Of the existing reactors, Tsuruga Unit 1 is a 357 MW boiling water reactor commissioned in March 1970. Tsuruga Unit 2 is a 1160 MW pressurized water reactor that was commissioned in February 1987. In the planning stages are two 1538 MW advanced pressurized water reactors.