Shika Nuclear Power Plant

Infobox NPP
Picture =
Pic_des =
Country = Japan
Utility = Hokuriku Electric Power Company
Built = 1975
Start = July 30, 1993
End =
Reactor = 2
Reactor_MW = 1898
S_Reactor =
S_Reactor_MW =
B_Reactor =
B_Reactor_MW =
E_Reactor =
E_Reactor_MW =
El_Prod = 7,456
for_year = 2006
El_Prod_avg = 4,459
Net_Prod = 54,864
WEBSITE =
as_of = July 25, 2007The nihongo|Shika Nuclear Power Plant|志賀原子力発電所|Shika genshiryoku hatsudensho|Shika NPP is a nuclear power plant located in the town of Shika, Ishikawa, Japan. It is owned and operated by the Hokuriku Electric Power Company.

Reactors on Site

1999 Criticality Event

On June 18, 1999 during an inspection, an emergency control rod insertion was to be performed. One rod was to be inserted into the reactor, however, due to improper following of the procedure, instead of one rod inserting, 3 rods withdrew. For the next 15 minutes, the reactor was in a dangerous criticality state. This event was not revealed until March 15, 2007, since it was covered up in the records.

Immediately after the event was revealed, the president of the Hokuriku Electric Power Company was called to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry office and ordered to shut down the unit 1 reactor. Note that this was not the same president as when the event happened in 1999.

On June 5, 2007 the committee chairman of the Japan Nuclear Safety Commission inspected the control rod housing and drive mechanisms and evaluated that the event was due to cutting corners. He also concluded that the reactor operators at the time were under a lot of pressures from above, and simply punishing the operators would not be an effective deterrent for future accidents. One proposed measure was to have alarms automatically record when they go off so that records can not be altered.

External links

* [http://atom.pref.ishikawa.jp/ Ishikawa Prefecture Nuclear Emergency Plans 石川県原子力安全対策室]
* [http://atom.pref.ishikawa.jp/RS21000.htm Environment radiation monitoring 環境放射線モニタリング]
* [http://www.rikuden.co.jp/ Hokuriku Electric Company 北陸電力]
** [http://www.rikuden.co.jp/press/attach/07031501.pdf Information Regarding the 1999 Event 志賀原子力発電所１号機 第５回定期検査期間中に発生した原子炉緊急停止について(PDF)]
* [http://www.irsn.org/en/document/site_1/fckfiles/File/dossiers/earthquakes/notohanto_japan_earthquake_25_03_2007.pdf Noto Hanto earthquake (Japan)]