Fukushima governor wants all 10 nuclear reactors in prefecture scrapped

It was on the Japanese news last Tuesday that TEPCO projects it will be able to supply electricity beyond this summer's maximum capacity next summer even if all 17 its nuclear reactors go offline. The following is TEPCO's calculation.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20111123p2g00m0dm008000c.html

The following is the calculation by Masao Takano of Nagoya University.

[TEPCO area]

水力hydro 2,180,000kw

揚水pumped hydro 6,810,000kw

卸電力事業者揚水Wholesale Electricity Utility pumped hydro 2,530,000kw

稼働原子力nuke 0kw

火力thermal 38,190,000kw

卸電気事業者火力Wholesale Electricity Utility thermal 5,450,000kw

緊急設備電源emergency power supply system(thermal) 2,000,000kw

合計 total 62,070,000kw

Used electricity at peak time (2010) 60,000,000kw

[KEPCO area]

KEPCO area used 31380000kw at peak time (not total) in 2010. KEPCO can generate 38630000kw (4550000kw from nuke energy). Even if all nukes stopped, they can generate at maximum capacity of 34080000kw.

(Asahi TV) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=696D_vsgmyc

"It continues to leak radiation, although TEPCO and the government insist the reactors will all be brought to cold shutdown by the end of the year."

Yeah, like anyone trusts TEPCO and the bureaucrats they have tangled in golden parachutes.

TEPCO projects it will be able to supply electricity beyond this summer's maximum capacity next summer even if all 17 of its nuclear reactors go offline, company sources said Tuesday. TEPCO projects it can supply about 57 million kilowatts of power next summer through greater thermal and hydro power generation even if all of its nuclear reactors stop operations by summer in the aftermath of the March earthquake and tsunami or because of regular maintenance, the sources said. Of the 54 nuclear reactors in commercial use in the country, TEPCO has the most with 17. But nuclear power is expected to start playing no role in supplying electricity at the utility next spring. All six reactors at the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi plant and all four units at the Fukushima Daini plant have stopped operations following the March 11. Only two reactors at the seven-unit Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture are currently operating but are scheduled to go offline in January and March, respectively, for regular checkups. To meet future power demand when many nuclear reactors remain offline, TEPCO has been beefing up operations of its nonnuclear facilities, including its thermal power plant in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, while sourcing power from wholesalers. TEPCO's maximum supply capacity this summer reached 55.70 million kw on Aug. 17, against the maximum demand of 49.22 million kw logged the following day.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20111123p2g00m0dm008000c.html

the situation is sad! I really feel for resident of Fukushima!

won't make any difference, severe damage has already been done and that will last for decades, with or without nuclear plants in Fukushima.

Yet he is so arrogant (or ignorant) that he wants young people to live in radiation and wants to sell contaminated food to the rest of Japan.

The "nuclear village" will start circling the wagons, ready to defend their position. The head of the Japan Nucelar Safety Commission, Haruki Madarame, aka "Detarame", specialised academically in promoting the social acceptance of nuclear power.

Expect more grants and brown envelopes to flow from the utilities to key opinion leaders and local bureaucrats and politicians, and more attempts to influence local opinion, as happened in Kyushu and more recently in Hokkaido.

Or do the people of Fukushima just learn to do without electricity.

The people of Fukushima are not getting electricity from TEPCO. They get electricity from TOHOKU-EPCO.

About time the Governor of Fukushima realistically comes to his senses!! But that is just one step towards doing the right things!! Now he has to fight for everyone in Fukushima Prefecture to get compensated for all of the crap that the Japanese government did to everyone and are still doing to this day that makes everyone be faced with a danger that is deathly.

I agree its too late because the damage is already done. Shutting them down isnt going to stop the problem that already exists. Shut down is good, but it seems to me the governor is grasping for straws to hold on to his job. If he thinks shutting down the plants will now make everything grown and made there safe, hes wrong. If he thinks, shutting down the plants will mean everyone can go back to their old lives and have no health consequences, hes wrong. I think he should be pushing to get people relocated out of the area and farmers given new farms in other prefectures.

Be careful what you wish for, it might just come true.

Personally, I think this guy is just playing with the residents' emotions, and using them to gain popularity without actual plans on how things are going to be when and if this will take effect. Is he just thinking of buying electricity from other nuclear power plants? Maybe he thinks just because Fukushima was hit with a big earthquake that all of the nuclear plants are unstable.

Could it be true? A sensible politician who actually cares for the people?

And yet, had March 11 not happened, Fukushima people would be more than happy to live with nuclear plants and receiving their payments from TEPCO.

As they have done for around 4 decades.

Bottom line is: What is going to replace them?

ukenuke

Off-peak electric power (surplus of electricity, usually at night) is used to run the pumps. According to Takano, pumped hydro is possible with thermal. His calculation is based on the data from the Agency of Natural Resources and Energy of METI.

http://book.kanpo.net/product_info.php/products_id/20048

Excellent. Nuclear power is a DEAD DUCK. Good riddance to it.

just shut them all down. learn to live with less and/or get off the grid. this whole nuclear disaster is just another example of humanity's continual attempt to murder our Earth.

Blair HerronDec. 01, 2011 - 05:05PM JST

The following is the calculation by Masao Takano of Nagoya University.

And as I pointed out in an earlier thread - Pumped Storage is not Power Generation Maso Tanaka is short by 7 GW.

As I said before... what had happened had happened...done is done and nothing can changed it now. Period. All affected has to suffer and sacrifice. That's all they can do now. SCRAPING all Nuke Plant in Fukushima?........ It's about time. NOT ONLY in Fukushima all over the world. Re-usable energy is the best solution. Safe , good for mother earth, maybe costly but in the end much cheaper.

@star-viking

Pumped-storage hydroelectricity is a type of hydroelectric power generation used by some power plants for load balancing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumped-storage_hydroelectricity

Blair Herron has misleadingly included pump hydro in the generation capacity figures. This form of energy storage is a NET USER, not producer of electricity. Pumps (which USE electricity) move water uphill for later use to generate hydro. The net result is a loss of power!

Instead of abandoning nuclear power, the existing plants should be designed to withstand the maximum historical tsunami - as required in the United States. Why did they not properly design for the worst tsunami that was known to have occurred???

WOW!! What a grand idea!

Blair HerronDec. 02, 2011 - 09:24PM JST

ukenuke

Off-peak electric power (surplus of electricity, usually at night) is used to run the pumps. According to Takano, pumped hydro is possible with thermal. His calculation is based on the data from the Agency of Natural Resources and Energy of METI.

First, pumped-storage only has around 50% efficiency. Also, as it is a form of energy storage we need to know how many GW hours of energy it can give - as it stores energy, it does not produce it.

shutting down all nuclear reactors - Better late than never!

I agree with DS there has been more deaths caused by other fuel sources in the past. So much was learnt from Chernobyl that to date there has not been on death from the radiation at Fukushima. I think they should decommission the old nuclear reactors but until a better method is found nuclear should still be used in Japan.

@Cactusjack - that is sad. be careful what you say...Tokyo might not be too far ahead!!!

This is the first reasonable and smart idea I've heard come out of this guy yet. It's a shame it follows on the heels of the (still ongoing) Dai-Ni plant disaster, but if that comes out of it, good.

What an idiot! What is his alternative? "Keep peddling granny! The lights are going out!"

zichiDec. 01, 2011 - 06:48PM JST

DS, during the hot summer there were only about 18 reactors in operation producing about 18-20% of the total power when prior to 3/11 nuclear generated about 25-27% of total power. There are now only 10 reactors working.

This was not a hot summer by any means. No records were broken. Lots of production was also move to the evening and weekends. That is not sustainable.

Also, people keep talking about TEPCO and Tokyo. In Tohoku we came within 2% of capacity when the storms knocked out our hydro dams. In a hot summer, like 2007, we'd have widespread power cuts and more old people dying in their homes.

After 3/11 more power was generated by gas/geothermal/coal. Since 3/11 the total amount of CO2 has only increased by 4%, a very workable increase.

I don't think there's a way to ramp up geothermal production beyond building new plants. Gas and coal cost, release CO2, and Coal is particularly polluting to the environment - and radioactive. How much CO2 would Japan be releasing when it gets back on its feet?

OK, let&'s assume the reactors are shut down.

Now what?

How is the power they generated going to be replaced? Coal? LNG turbines? Burning oil? Or do the people of Fukushima just learn to do without electricity. They can go back to the 'good old days' of living by candlepower, cooking over open fires, and heating their homes with open fires.

The best solution is to replace the old reactors with new, safe ones. Any technology improves over time. Get some newer reactors built that are more efficient and can provide the power necessary to modern life.

Fukushima is now the best place to have active nuclear reactors. The place is already radioactively "dirty" beyond saving. Something like putting all your trash in the city dump and not all over your neighborhood.

I am with DS, so nail me with thumbs down. :-)

Zichi;

Again. Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that you are correct. The power from nuclear reactors can be replaced with other sources. What are those sources? And what impact does ramping up use of LNG/Coal/oil have on greenhouse gasses and the environment? This is the elephant in the room that anti-nuclear people fail to acknowledge.

It's a bit of a devil's bargain- support clean nuclear power, and there is an infinitesimal (sp) chance of a disaster. Support conventional power, and there is guaranteed environmental harm.

How about putting all new reactors in Fukushima and close the rest in the country and rely just on Fukushima? Not like most of it is fit to live in, grow food... Give up on it now and make it useful. The wasteland could produce all of the country's power and well, if there is an explosion, nothing new and nothing damaged.

So, TEPCO will make up for nuclear power in two ways: burn more fossil fuels, and buying excess power from outside the TEPCO area. Which is great for TEPCO, but what if the companies that run the OTHER nearly 40 reactors decide to do the same thing? TEPCO wants to buy power from Kansai, but Kansai needs all it's power because they shut their reactors too. It's a domino effect that in the end results in trouble.

These reactors should have been built on a schedule with maintenance and replacement in mind. Build a couple new reactors every five years, and during that time replace the oldest one in the inventory. A good cycle of maintenance/replacement would ensure a steady supply of safe and environmentally friendly power for decades.