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JAPAN'S SPENT FUELAND

PLUTONIUM MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES

Asian Energy Security Project MeetingBeijing, Oct 31-Nov.2, 2007

CONTENTS1. Introduction2. Spent fuel management3. Plutonium balance4. Impact of Chetsu Earthquake5. Conclusion

Tadahiro Katsuta and Tatsujiro SuzukiUniversity of Tokyo

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1. Introduction

Japan’s Plutonium Policy: Current Status• At the end of 2006, Japan had 25.3t(f) (~37.8t(t)) of separa

ted plutonium in Europe recovered under contracts with BNFL and COGEMA and about 6.7t from its domestic reprocessing plants, i.e. the total is now 44.5 t.

• On March 31, 2006, the Rokkasho reprocessing plant by JNFL started active testing. If this plant operates at nominal capacity, about 8t of plutonium will be recovered annually. During 2006, 738kg of Pu was separated at Rokkasho plant.

• Japanese utilities plan to recycle all plutonium, into existing Light Water Reactors (LWRs), but no single reactor has been loaded with MOX fuel as of May 2006.

• Therefore, it is likely that more plutonium will be accumulated once the Rokkasho plant starts operating.

• Rokkasho plant is now preparing for its full operation planned in early next year.

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Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant- Owner : JNFL- 800 tHM /yr of capacity- 3,000tHM of spent fuel storage capacity.- Active testing started March.31, 2006. --Plutonium separated and MOX powder was produced in November, 2006- Commercial operation: early 2008

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Table 1. Amount of Spent Fuel at Each Site (As of end of March 2004)

i Effective storage capacity = Storage Capacity - (1 Full core + Annual discharge). ii Year when storage capacity is filled up for NPP site = year of march 2004+(Effective storage capacity - Amount of spent fuel)/Annual discharge. (P): PWR, (B): BWR

Owing power companies

Plant name

No. of reactors

[tU]

1 Full core each

[tU]

Annual discharge

[tU]

Amount of spent fuel

[tU]

Effective storage capacityi

[tU]

Year when storage

capacity is filled upii [year]

Hokkaido Tomari(P) 2 100 30 290 420 2008 Tohoku Onagawa(B) 3 260 60 280 790 2012 Tokyo FukushimaI(B) 6 580 150 1,360 2,100 2009

Fukushima II(B) 4 520 140 1,250 1,360 2005

Kashiwazaki -Kariwa(B)

7 960 250 1,840 2,630

2007

Chubu Hamaoka(B) 4 420 110 820 1,090 2006 Hokuriku Sika(B) 1 60 20 70 160 2008 Kansai Mihama(P) 3 160 50 360 620 2009

Takahama(P) 4 290 100 940 1,100 2005 Ohi(P) 4 360 120 1,030 1,900 2011

Chugoku Shimane(B) 2 170 40 330 600 2011 Shikoku Ikata(P) 3 170 60 450 930 2012 Kyusyu Genkai(P) 4 270 100 660 1,060 2008

Sendai(P) 2 140 50 630 900 2009 JAPC Tsuruga(P) 2 140 40 520 870 2013

Tokai-II(B) 1 130 30 300 420 2008 Total 52 4,730 1,350 11,110 16,940 ---

Reactor on-site pools are filling up

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Dry storageCapacity : 5,000 tHMOperation: 2010(Status : Planned)

Construction cost: $0.8 billion(including dry casks)

Rokkasho reprocessing plantStorage capacity:3,000tHM(Received 1,776 tHM as of April 2006)

Construction cost: $18 billion

Mutsu Interim storage site

At-reactor storage

Storage capacity: 16,940 tHM/16 sitesOn-site dry cask storage is not allowed bylocal governments (Fukushima-1 was allowed one time).

Three types of spent fuel storage capacity

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Category Items $ billion

Reprocessing Rokkasho (800tx 40 yrs)

Decommissioning ($13 billion)

91.6

HLW storage & transportation

From Europe

(including HLW swapped for LLW equivalent)

8.8

HLW disposal Only vitrified waste 21.3

TRU disposal Both From Europe and From Rokkasho

6.8

MOX fuel fabrication

9.9

Total 138.5

Report of Study Group on Cost Estimate for Nuclear Fuel Cycle (METI, 2004)

Cost Estimates of Rokkasho Project (40-year life time cost)

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Cost Comparison of Fuel Cycle Options by Japan Atomic Energy Commission (2004)

(Yen/kWh) Scenario1

(Current Policy)

Scenario 2

(Stop reprocessing after Rokkasho)

Scenario 3

(Cancel Rokkasho, Direct Disposal)

Scenario 4

(interim storage then decide)

Power Gen. Cost

5.2 5.0~5.1 4.5~4.7 4.7~4.8

Cost due to Policy Change*

- - 0.9~1.5 0.9~1.5

Total Cost 5.2 5.0~5.1 5.4~6.2 5.6~6.3

*Assumes that all nuclear power plants would be shut down due to shortage of spent fuel storage capacity and have to be replaced with fossil-fueled power plants.

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0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

70,000

2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 20500

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

70,000

Cum

ula

tive invento

ry o

f spent

fuel [t

HM

]

At Reactor Pool Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant Pool Mutsu Interim Storage

Planned Reprocessing at Rokkasho

Additional Storage Capacityto Avoid Reprocessing

Spent

fuel st

ora

ge c

apacit

y [

tHM

]

Projected Spent Fuel (Low burn- up ratio) Projected Spent Fuel (High burn- up ratio)

Spent Fuel as of the end of March 2004

Figure 1. Cumulative inventory and management of spent fuel in the future

20242028

Comparison of projected cumulative spent fuel discharges with currently planned storage capacity

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Spent fuel storage Inflexibilities

• Although total spent fuel storage capacity is large enough to store spent fuel up to mid-2020s, inflexibilities of spent fuel storage management make situation more complex:

– No transfer of spent fuel between utilities is allowed.– Storage pool at Rokkasho plant (3,000tU) is divided into three secti

ons; 1,000tU of PWR spent fuel, 1,000tU of BWR spent fuel and 1,000tU for either type of spent fuel.

– Mutsu interim storage facility (5,000 tU) owned by only two utilities; TEPCO (4000 tons), and JAPCO (1,000tU).

• As a result, some utilities with PWRs may face shortage of spent fuel storage as early as 2014.

• Local mayors and governor of Aomori demand that the recycling program continue in order to guarantee that spent fuel will be removed from the site within 50 years.

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Posessed Pu Separated Pu Consumed Pu0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

Pu Surplus Oversea: 37.4 Domestic: 5.7(Dec.2004)

5

7 46

157

7

15

7

98

2424

A

mount

of

plu

toniu

m [

tPu]

NPP Rokkasho Tokai UK Flance Fugen, J oyo, Monju, DCA

Unseparated Pu

Pu Surplus Oversea: 35 Domestic: 5

22 Fugen: 1.5J oyo : 1.5Monju : 1.8DCA : 0.1

Figure 3. Management of plutonium (As of March 2004)

3. Plutonium balanceCurrent stockpile

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0.9 0.1

6.8

44.6

0

10

20

30

40

50

Amount ofseparated

plutonium durling2006

Loaded separatedplutonium in thenuclear power

facilities durling2006

Separatedplutonium stocks

in Japan

Separatedplutonium stocks

(Japan, the UK andFrance)

Separa

ted p

luto

niu

m [

tPu(t

ota

l)]

Japan’s Pu Stockpile (2006)

12

50

100

150

0

50

100

150

50

100

150

Sep

arat

ed p

luto

nium

[tP

u]

1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 20200

50

100

150

50

100

150

Stockpile(Domestic) Stockpile(Oversea)

(c)

(b)

Supply total Demand total Stockpile

(a)

Figure 4. Future plutonium stockpile until 2020

37tPu

74tPu

48tPu

Assumption(a) Oversea Pu used first (b) Overseas Pu not recycled before 2020 (c) Operation of Rokkasho postponedAfter 2005 : Demand MOX fuel: From 2012, 9.3 tPu/year/plants x18 plants

Monju: re-start from 2010, 0.47tPU/year Supply Rokkasho reprocessing plant: start from 2006 (2 -6tPu/year from 2006-2009, 8tPu/year from 2010)

6tPu

81tPu

81tPu

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Progress of MOX fuel program as of September 2006

Electric compan

y　 Star

tLocal Gov’t Consent

Licensing

Application

LicenseApprov

edNote

Hokkaido Tomari 201

0

Tohoku Onagawa 2010

Tokyo Fukushima I-3 ? (OK) OK OK Local consent cancelled

Kasiwazaki-kariwa-3 ? (OK) OK OK Same as

above

Chubu Hamaoka-4 2010 OK

No local consent system

Hokuriku Shika 201

0

Kansai Takahama-3 2007 OK OK OK Plan

suspended

Takahama-4 2007 OK OK OK Plan

suspended

Chugoku Shimane-2 201

0

Negotiation underway with local

government

Shikoku Ikata-3 2010 OK OK

Kyusyu Genkai-3 2010 OK OK OK

JAPC Tsuruga-2 2008

Under negotiation

Tokai-2 2010

J-Power Oma 2010 　 　 　 　

?

?

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Japan's stockpile of separated plutoniumSupply [kilograms] the end

of 2006the end of 2005

Separated Plutonium in Japan

Tokai Pilot Reprocessing PlantRokkasho Reprocessing Plant

817737

824 0

Fuel Fabrication Plant 3,845 3,727Power Plant, etc. 1,354 1,372Subtotal 6,753 5,923

Separated Plutonium in Foreign Storage(fissile)

At U.K. reprocessing plant 11,363 11,395At France reprocessing plant 13,966 14,022Subtotal(fissile, 67% of total) 25,329 25,417

Total (total) 44.557 43,775

Demand [kilograms] the end of 2006

the end of 2005

Separation, Import and Use of Plutonium

Supply (Tokai+Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant)

273 161

Usage (Monju, Joyo, Fugen etc.) 1 183

Total 274 344

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Plutonium Balance Change in Japan (2006)

Separated plutonium by the reprocessing plants (Tokai and Rokkasho) during 2006

903

Loaded separated plutonium in the nuclear power facilities during 2006

-57

Increase and decrease in each facility (Tokai reprocessing plant and Tokai fabrication plant) during 2006

-16

Increase and decrease 830

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Plutonium stockpile owned by Utilities (as of September 2006, tonPuf)

In Japan In Oversea Total

Hokkaido 0.0 0.1 0.1

Tohoku 0.0 0.3 0.3

Tokyo 0.4 7.1 7.5

Chubu 0.0 2.3 2.4

Hokuriku 0.1 0.1

Kansai 0.1 8.5 8.6

Chugoku 0.1 0.7 0.8

Shikoku 0.1 1.2 1.3

Kyusyu 0.1 1.9 2.0

JAPC 0.1 3.2 3.3

Total 1.0 25.3 26.4

Unit: tons of fissile Plutonium

• 平成 22年までに 16-18基でMOX利用を実施する予定。• 実施の当初は海外で加工した MOX燃料を利用する予定。国内 MOX燃料加工工場竣工後は、同工場で製造したMOX燃料も順次利用予定。

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Utilities’ Pu stockpile in Japan(kgPuf)

[kirogram] The end of FY2006

The end of FY2007

Total

Hokkaido 25 75 100

Tohoku 23 66 89

Tokyo 259 766 1,025

Chubu 55 161 216

Hokuriku 3 10 14

Kansai 154 456 610

Chugoku 30 89 120

Shikoku 39 116 155

Kyusyu 97 287 384

JAPC 47 138 184

Total 732 2,164 2,897

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Impact of Advanced Fuel Cycle (GNEP)

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Impact of Advanced Fuel Cycle(GNEP)

BAU AFC(1) AFC(2) DD(1) DD(2)0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Back e

nd c

ost

[bill

ion $

]

Separated Plutonium storage(MOX) [tPu] Recovery Uranium Storage Operation waste from rerocessing Disposal (HLW (Final)) Disposal (SF (Final)) Storage (HLW (Interim)) Storage (SF (Interim)) Fabrication (FR fuel) Fabrication (MOX) Reprocessing (Spent FR fuel) Reprocessing (Spent MOX) Reprocessing (Spent UOX)

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Chuetsu Earthquake and its impact on Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Plant(1)

• Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is the biggest nuclear plant site in Japan, hosting 7 units, total of 7965 MWe net capacity.

• On July 16, 2007, a strong earthquake occurred at 10:13 am, with a magnitude of M 6.8(JMA scale). Its epicenter was about 16 km north of the site, and its hypocenter below the seabed of the Jo-chuetsu area in Niigata (37.33N, 138.37E)

• At that time, four reactors were in operation (Unit 2,3,4,and 7), and the other three (Unit 1,5, and 6) were in shutdown for planned outages.

• All of them are now shutdown and safety investigation has started, and it is not clear when plants will be back into operation

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Chuetsu Earthquake and its impact on Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Plant(2)

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Siting in Japan would be more difficult

Source: Katsuhiko Ishibashi, “Nuclear Plant safety from viewpoint of Seismic Conditions,” (2003

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Design Base Earthquake and Actual Responses

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Niigata Earthquake and its Impacts on Kashiwazaki-Kariha Nuclear Plant

Source; Tokyo Electric Power

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Impact of Earthquake

• TEPCO lost 7GW of planned nuclear capacity, and there was concern about supply during summer peak.– Estimated peak was ~ 61-65 GW and total planned

capacity without nuclear was 58 GW– Emergency power supply arrangements plus start up of old

power plants added up about 4.7 GW, and finally peak demand conservation contract saved its peak (~ 1GW), and peak was finally met.

• TEPCO lost about 600 billion yen(~$5.5 bill) due to the earthquake, resulting in estimated 95 billion yen loss for FY 2007. – Future repair cost is uncertain– Need to purchase CO2 credit from overseas

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• Voluntary siting process of HLW disposal facility– In Jan, 2007, Mayor of Toyo-town of Kochi Prefecture officially re

quested “investigation of feasibility” of HLW disposal facility (first such request made by a town)

• The town would receive \1 billion just for this investigation. 　• The proposal was accepted by

METI, but local opposition

stopped the process

• In Oct. 2007, METI adv. comm.

proposed to modify the process– Gov’t can propose to local

community

HLW Disposal Issues

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Conclusions (1)

• Japan continues its reprocessing program, and the Rokkasho reprocessing plant separated 0.7 ton of plutonium during its test operation.

• Meanwhile plutonium recycling program has made little progress.

• As a result, Japan’s plutonium stockpile has steadily increased to 44.5 ton.

• The introduction of advanced fuel cycle would increase cost of fuel cycle and will not likely to reduce area requirements.

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CONCLUSION (2)

• The Chuestu earthquake and shutdown of all 7 nuclear plants at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa site have had significant impact on Japan’s nuclear debate.– Safety concerns remain, and future of KK plan

ts are uncertain– Financial risk and CO2 emission increase are

also sources of concern