Four reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, including three whose nuclear fuel rods are now believed to be dangerous lumps of corium, were legally removed from the list of active reactors on April 19.
Four reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, including three whose nuclear fuel rods are now believed to be dangerous lumps of corium, were legally removed from the list of active reactors on April 19.
The announcement for the damaged No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 reactors, with a combined capacity of 2.8 gigawatts, was based on the electricity business law. Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the nuclear plant that was crippled in the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, made the request with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in late March this year.
The number of commercial nuclear reactors in Japan is now 50, including 13 run by TEPCO. All of TEPCO’s reactors are currently idle, and there are no immediate prospects of bringing them back online.
Fukushima Prefecture is also demanding that TEPCO decommission the No. 5 and 6 reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 plant, as well as all four reactors at its Fukushima No. 2 nuclear plant.
Work will continue at the Fukushima No. 1 plant to maintain a state of cold shutdown because nuclear fuel remains in the reactors and storage pools.
In December 2001, Japan Atomic Power Co. decommissioned the one reactor at its Tokai Power Station in Ibaraki Prefecture due to its age.
In January 2009, the aging No. 1 and 2 reactors at Chubu Electric Power Co.’s Hamaoka nuclear power plant in Shizuoka Prefecture were shut down for decommissioning.