TEPCO considers contingency plans as nuclear plants go dark

• 12 years ago (2012-03-27)
• Junior Isles

Asia 892 North America 1021 Nuclear 659

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Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) is seeking alternative electricity supplies following the closure of the last of its 17 nuclear reactors.

TEPCO suspended operations of the 1350 MW, No. 6 reactor at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant for a routine check-up at around midnight Sunday March 25th. Of the 54 commercial nuclear reactors in Japan, the No. 3 reactor of Hokkaido Electric Power Co.'s Tomari nuclear power plant is now the only one remaining in operation in the country.

This is the first time since April 2003 that TEPCO has shut down all its reactors simultaneously. Then the cause was a scandal over falsified safety-inspection reports.

"We expect that we can ensure a steady supply of electricity for the time being, but we would like to request people's cooperation in saving electricity whenever possible," TEPCO President Toshio Nishizawa has said.

TEPCO's 17 nuclear reactors have a combined output capacity of 17 300 MW, which accounted for a quarter of its total electrical power supply of 65 000 MW as of the end of March 2011.

Ahead of potential power shortages TEPCO is preparing measures to secure stable electricity supplies ahead of summer, when demand for air conditioning normally surges.

The utility plans to generate 57 000 MW without its nuclear power plants by installing emergency gas turbines for thermal power generation. In TEPCO's service area, demand for power peaked at 49 220 MW the summer of 2011.

The government had also imposed restrictions on power usage in TEPCO's service areas in 2011, requiring heavy users of electricity to reduce their power consumption by 15 per cent from the peak in 2010.

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yukio Edano has said the government has no plans to impose the same restrictions in 2012, and will also refrain from conducting rotating blackouts in the summer.

However, shortages may be unavoidable should power demand surge in a heat wave or the thermal power plants, which are not designed to run continuously for as long as nuclear ones, breakdown.

To restart operations, TEPCO’s nuclear power plants need to pass stress tests. TEPCO has already submitted the first-phase assessment of stress tests on the No. 1 and No. 7 reactors at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant.

Local government, however, is taking a cautious approach to restarting nuclear operations.

"As long as the root cause of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant remains unclear, we can't judge what is safe," Niigata Gov. Hirohiko Izumida said.