Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant

Infobox NPP
Picture = Hamaoka nuclear pp mlit1988.jpg
Pic_des = Image taken from the air (1988). In this image, all units through Hamaoka-3 are operating. "Copyright National Land Image Information (Color Aerial Photograph), Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport."
Country = Japan
Utility = Chubu Electric Power Company
Built = 1967
Start = March 17, 1976
End =
Reactor = 5
Reactor_MW = 4997
S_Reactor =
S_Reactor_MW =
B_Reactor =
B_Reactor_MW =
E_Reactor =
E_Reactor_MW =
El_Prod = 12,920
for_year = 2006
El_Prod_avg = 17,997
Net_Prod = 468,336
WEBSITE =
as_of = July 25, 2007

The nihongo|Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant|浜岡原子力発電所|Hamaoka Genshiryoku Hatsudensho|Hamaoka NPP is a nuclear power plant located in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan managed by the Chubu Electric Power Company. There are five units contained at a single site with a net area of 1.6 square kilometers (395 acres, about a fourth of fifth of a typical US plant).

The area is in a possible epicenter of future earthquakes according to predictions. In fact, a fault line runs straight through the site. Earthquake resistance is a very important aspect of this plant, and difficulties have been seen in previous events.

Reactors on Site

Performance

The plant showed stellar performance through the 1990s, however, problems that caused Unit 1 to be shut down from 2001 to present, and Unit 2 2005 to present significantly hurt the capacity factor figures in the recent history of the plant.

Unit 1 HPCI Rupture

On November 7, 2001 a valve in the HPCI system of Unit 1 ruptured during a Periodical-manual-startup-test. Since this is considered a part of the ECCS, the implications reach further the event itself, and drew into question the reliability of the emergency safety system. [NISA. [www.nisa.meti.go.jp/text/kokusai/131121.pdf] ] Unit 2 was also shut down for the purpose of investigating similar structures.

Unit 2 Steam Turbine Problems

Unit 5 Steam Turbine Problems

Too recent to cover the entire relevant time frame in the data above, on June 15, 2006 Unit 5 was shut down due to excessive turbine vibrations. It was discovered that a number of turbine vanes had actually completely broken off. In the turbine that failed, nearly all vanes showed fractures or cracking while the majority of the vanes of the other two low pressure turbines also showed problems. Fault for the problems were placed on Mitsubishi, the NSSS supplier.

Previous Events

* 1991, April 4 - Unit 3 reactor coolant supply lowered, automatic SCRAM
* 2001, November 7 - Unit 1 pipe burst accident
* 2001, November 9 - Unit 1 coolant leak accident
* 2002 - In an independent inspection, it was discovered that 16 unique signs of cracks in steam pipes were known by the utility but failed to report to the prefecture level authorities.
* 2002, May 24 - Unit 2 water leak
* 2004, February 21 - Unit 2 outbreak of fire in room above turbine room.
* 2004, August - Unit 4 problem with fabrication of data by utility.
* 2005, November 4 - Unit 1 pipe leak incident
* 2005, November 16 - Unit 3 outside pipe leak due to corrosion
* 2005, November 16 - Unit 1 spent fuel pool had foreign matter detected in it
* 2006, June - Unit 5 damage to turbine blades
* 2007, March - Utility admitted to 14 cases of unfair business practices

References

External links

* [http://www.chuden.co.jp/torikumi/atom/hamaoka/index.html Chubu Electric Power Company Hamaoka NPP page]
* [http://www.pref.shizuoka.jp/kinkyu/hamaoka-index.html 静岡県総務部防災局（浜岡原子力発電所の事故・トラブル関連のページ）]
* [http://www.stop-hamaoka.com 浜岡原発､巨大地震対策虹のネットワーク]