Why are we restarting old and damaged nuclear plants?
In September 2018, the Nuclear Regulation Authority approved a screening report saying that the Tokai No. 2 Nuclear Power Plant (Japan Atomic Power Co.) was in compliance with new regulatory standards, and issued a permit to change facilities. In October it issued a construction plan approval, and in November an operation extension approval for at least 40 more years of operation.
Tokai No. 2 is an aged nuclear power plant that has been in operation for over 40 years. Even if replaceable parts are replaced, risks increase with time. The “40-year rule”—that a nuclear power plant cannot be operated past 40 years unless it is in exceptionally good condition—was abruptly watered down.
Tokai No. 2 was damaged by the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011. For more than three days after the loss of external power due to the tsunami, it was effectively in cold shutdown and has not operated since then. A comprehensive verification of damage has not yet been done.
Not a single reactor has operated at a nuclear power plant in East Japan since the March 2011 disaster, but still the power supply has been stable. In 2018, Japan was hit by a record heat wave. Even with heavy demand for air conditioning, the government made no public appeals to conserve electricity. In conclusion, there is no good reason to restart aging or damaged nuclear power plants.
Problem-riddled safety measures at Tokai No. 2
There are many concerns about safety measures. Here are some of them:
- Of approximately 1,400 km of cables, only a portion are currently or will be replaced with fire retardant cables in the future.
- The containment vessel of Tokai No. 2 is the MARK II design, which comes with the risk of a steam explosion if core melting occurs in the event of an accident. But for the safety screening it was assumed there was a low likelihood of that occurring, so it was deemed to be acceptable to ignore. Thus, that risk has not even been taken into account.
- When Mount Akagi erupts, up to 50 cm of volcanic ash could fall. There are concerns about insufficient strength of reactor buildings and the possible clogging of the diesel generators that would have to supply emergency power.
- The emergency response center does not have a seismic isolation structure.
- The Tokai Reprocessing Plant (currently in the process of being decommissioned) is storing high- level radioactive liquid waste and other materials, in the vicinity. But there has been no consideration of responses there in the event of an accident at Tokai No. 2.
Big utilities pay a fortune to Japan Atomic Power, get zero electricity in return!
Japan Atomic Power Co. is a utility specializing in nuclear power generation, and it owns the Tokai Nuclear Power Plant, Tokai No. 2, and Tsuruga No. 1 and No. 2. A decision was made to decommission the Tokai Nuclear Power Plant and Tsuruga No. 1, and an active seismic fault has been found directly under Tsuruga No. 2.
Tokai No. 2 has not generated any electricity since 2012, but the company has been kept on life support with at least 100 billion yen in electricity revenues annually from Tokyo Electric Power Co., Kansai Electric Power Co., Chubu Electric Power Co., Hokuriku Electric Power Co., and Tohoku Electric Power Co. The total for fiscal 2012 to 2017 comes to 735 billion yen. In other words, electricity users all over Japan—who have not received a single kilowatt-hour of electricity from Japan Atomic Power for years—are bearing the burden of keeping the company alive. TEPCO has paid the highest basic fee, a cumulative total of 322.8 billion yen from fiscal 2011 to 2017.
Fig. 1. Electricity fees paid to Japan Atomic Power Co. by other utilities in Japan
prepared by FoE Japan from Japan Atomic Power Co. financial reports
Fig. 2. Japan Atomic Power Co. net profit
prepared by FoE Japan from Japan Atomic Power Co. financial reports
The shaky finances of Japan Atomic Power Co.
It has been estimated that restarting Tokai No. 2 would cost about 174 billion yen for seawalls and other safety measures, as well as roughly 80 billion yen for anti-terrorism measures. Japan Atomic Power Co. had an average annual net profit of 1.7 billion yen from 2003 to 2010 when Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 and 2 and Tokai No. 2 were in operation, but an average annual loss of 2.5 billion yen from 2011 to 2017 (after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami).1 Even if it were possible to return to the 2003 to 2010 level of surpluses, it would take more than 100 years to cover the additional safety and security costs. But at most, the Tokai No. 2 nuclear plant could operate for another 18 years.
Meanwhile, the construction allowance for Japan Atomic Power Co. is 166 billion yen, which exceeds their net assets of 156.2 billion yen.2 This allowance is believed to be for the construction of Tsuruga No. 3 and 4 but their sites are currently vacant land, their possibility of completion and operation is low, and their asset value is questionable. If they have no asset value, the company will be insolvent.
Japan Atomic Power Co. cannot cover the cost of safety measures for Tokai No. 2 on its own, so TEPCO and Tohoku Electric Power Co. have indicated their intention to provide financial support in the form of loan guarantees or prepayment of electricity charges. However, TEPCO has already received a huge injection of public funds, and is expected to focus on compensation and reactor decommissioning. The provision of financial support from TEPCO for the restart of Tokai No. 2 should be out of the question.
- Securities report of Japan Atomic Power Co.
- Construction allowance: An accounting category for provisionally recording expenditures on tangible fixed assets before completion, such as buildings under construction or equipment under production.