The Kansai Electric Power Company and Japan Atomic Power Company have submitted plans to Japanese regulators for dismantling three nuclear reactors that are deemed feasible for upgrades to meet post-Fukushima Daiichi standards, but are also deemed too costly to do so.
The companies plan to dismantle the Mihama generating station's units 1 and 2 and the Unit 1 reactor at the Tsuruga nuclear power facility. All of the reactors, which were officially decommissioned in April 2015, are in the Fukui Prefector on the west coast of Japan, southwest of Tokyo.
The plan to dismantle Mihama calls for a 30 year project, while the dismantling of the Tsuruga No. 1 reactor is expected to take 25 years, reported the Japan Times.
The three are among five reactors decommissioned last April, including the Genkai plant's Unit 1 in Saga prefecture (in southern Japan), operate by Kyushu Electric Power Company and Shimane power station's Unit 1 in Shimane Prefecture (also southern Japan, on the west coast), which is run by the Chugoku Electric Power Company.
The reactors in question are among the oldest in Japan. The Tsuruga No. 1 reactor, a 341 MWe boiling water reactor, was made operational in 1970. Mihama No. 1 and No. 2 have been operational since the early 1970s. They are, respectively, 340 MWe and 500 MWe pressurized water reactors, according to the World Nuclear Association (WNA).
Tsuruga No. 1 alone is expected to generate 20,600 metric tons of waste, including 40 metric tons of high-level waste, close to 2,000 metric tons of intermediate-level wast and about 10,750 metric tons of low-level waste, the WNA reported.