Nuclear regulatory agency chief hints at no reactor restarts until next year

So it looks to be a very painful winter for Hokkaido. Without Tomari, Tomakomai coal plants will need to stay on longer and spew more carcinogens into densely populated areas, and unless major companies scale back electricity use. Typical winter peak is about 6 pm and 5.5GW, of which nuclear used to provide 2.1GW. The record last year was almost 5.8GW in January (Hokkaido uses much more in winter than summer), and this year may be as cold or colder.

According to Reuters:

Power supplies could be stretched this winter in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido, where the cold could be more severe than usual. Hokkaido Electric Power Co has said it expects power supply to barely outstrip projected peak winter demand as none of its three reactors is operating amid public anxiety about nuclear safety.

While they are expected to have a surplus in the 100-300 MW range, a single thermal plant going down for more than 6 hours would mean a million people without heat in the dead of winter.

The rest of Japan will be seeing a continuation of mild weather, so they should be fine, but Hokkaido will be below average temps.

Time to insulate all buildings/homes in Hokkaido. Solar panels. Etc. Hokkaido can lead the way into the non-nuclear future. Yeah, Basroil, something aside from coal fired energy would be a good thing. Other answers are out there.

Time to implement heat pumps in Hokkaido: 1 electricity watt used = 4 heat watt recovered. They have had 19 months to do it and last winter there had been no black out! Going green means 50% saving and 50% efficiency. They can do it, I am not worrying at all.

So according to this man none of the decisions he make have anything to do with him, and any decisions in the future won't be based on safety but based on what the law allows at the time. Glad to see Japan has grown up after giving the world the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

How about a "Let's learn about nuclear disaster" five day campaign?

There is nothing like a bsolute safety of Nu clear rea cgtors as they are subjected to several faults due to lack of safety culture and human errors which cause sixty per cdent of nuclear ac cidents.Moreover there is no safe dose of radiation beyond the back ground levels as NY INCREASE IN RADIATION CAUSES CORRESPONDING IN CREASED RATES OF CANCER among people and sickness among other forms of life.hence japanese must pressurise their politicians to save mankind and all forms of life by refusing to allow operation of Nuclear plants not only i n Japan but all over the world For more scientific details see my scientific and technical articles on the web site"DiaNuke.org" prof.T.Shivaji Rao,M.S.[rice University,Texas,USA,1962] Director,centrwe for environmental studies,Gitam university,visakhapatnam,India.

What a lovely photo. Where was ole smiley ere back then?

Ranger_Miffy2Oct. 14, 2012 - 08:45PM JST

Time to insulate all buildings/homes in Hokkaido. Solar panels. Etc. Hokkaido can lead the way into the non-nuclear future. Yeah, Basroil, something aside from coal fired energy would be a good thing. Other answers are out there.

You have to be kidding me. Hokkaido is the only place in Japan where home wrap and insulation are standard, including double double pane windows. And there's so much snow that Solar panels are 100% useless as they would take more energy to uncover than they could ever produce.

Currently over 50% of energy is coal based in several plants located mainly in the Chitose area (fairly populated), as well as another 30% oil based at a few other locations. Hydro makes up for only 1GW maximum for winter. While there can be other options LATER, it normally takes 2-3 years to build even the most basic power generation building.

Open MindedOct. 14, 2012 - 09:12PM JST

Time to implement heat pumps in Hokkaido: 1 electricity watt used = 4 heat watt recovered. They have had 19 months to do it and last winter there had been no black out! Going green means 50% saving and 50% efficiency. They can do it, I am not worrying at all.

Many places already have it, but heat pumps are useless once the ground freezes like it does in places outside the city. Not to mention that you can't drill for heat pumps once the buildings are up, so unless you planed on rebuilding Hokkaido in 19 months not sure if you thought the suggestion through.

zichiOct. 14, 2012 - 10:48PM JST

All the power companies, including the one in Hokkaido,have stated there'll be no power shortages over the winter.

Yes, 3% surplus expected, after a 10% electrical demand cut. When you talk about TEPCO's 50GW use, 3% is a whopping 1.5GW, something like 6 standard sized thermal plants. When you talk about 3% with something like HEPCO's 5.5GW, it's just 160MW, or a single small thermal plant. In fact, the smallest thermal unit they have is about 250MW, so if any one unit (not plant) goes offline at peak they can easily go from +3% to -1% power generation.

The 600MW HVDC line is also entirely dependent on production outside HEPCO's control, so while HEPCO stated there shouldn't be any issues, they also specifically stated that that's only true as long as there is zero downtime for the thermal stations and HVDC line. There is a very low chance of power being lost, but there is a much larger chance for this in Hokkaido than any other place due to the fact it's so damn far from everything.

this is one of those problems where the whole world would be more than willing to assist, it could probably be crowdsourced completely without anyone in the public asking back since it benefits everyone

well, everyone but the old energy lobby that is, they are the biggest problem holding it back worldwide, not the technology, the tek is there, the will is there, and no matter what the money can be there i think. Its just checkmating the ancient ones or making them able to profit from it that needs to be done

I didn't hear anything after the Oohi reactors were restarted. Were there the predicted shortages during the Summer? Is there a reason to keep the Oohi reactors running now? Has Tanaka-san done anything to expedite the studies and testing of the Oohi reactors seeing as they are the current "most dangerous" reactors in the country?

And I'm confused over a couple of statements Tanaka-san supposedly made:

The head of Japan’s new nuclear regulatory agency says reactors will not be allowed to restart until they pass seismic inspections and meet safety standards to be instituted next year.

and yet:

“We don’t have the legal power to stop the Ohi reactors.”

So if I'm reading this right, he can stop restarts, but he can't force shutdowns. What kind of "regulatory agency" is he running?

FadamorOct. 16, 2012 - 03:51AM JST

I didn't hear anything after the Oohi reactors were restarted. Were there the predicted shortages during the Summer? Is there a reason to keep the Oohi reactors running now? Has Tanaka-san done anything to expedite the studies and testing of the Oohi reactors seeing as they are the current "most dangerous" reactors in the country?

Use levels reached 10% higher than KEPCO could supply even using all the external sources if Oi and attached pumped stations wasn't included. There were no shortages BECAUSE of Oi, not in spite of Oi.

So if I'm reading this right, he can stop restarts, but he can't force shutdowns. What kind of "regulatory agency" is he running?

The new agency is unable to disregard things done by the last. If Oi does become unstable, or major seismic action forces it to stop, they can and likely will take it offline regardless of the consequences.