Fugen Nuclear Power Plant

This article is about a nuclear reactor. For the Bodhisattva, see Samantabhadra.

Fugen Nuclear Power Plant
The Fugen NPP in 1975, Image: Japan Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport
Location of Fugen Nuclear Power Plant
Country	Japan
Coordinates	35°45′16″N 136°00′59″E
Construction began	May 10, 1972 (1972-05-10)
Commission date	March 20, 1979 (1979-03-20)
Decommission date	March 29, 2003 (2003-03-29)
Operator(s)	Japan Atomic Energy Agency
Reactor information
Reactors decom.	1 x 165 MW
Reactor type(s)	HWLWR
Power generation information
Annual generation	345 GW·h
Net generation	8,448.92 GW·h
As of 2003

The Tsuruga NPP and Fugen NPP together in the same image

Fugen ふげん (Fugen) is a prototype Japanese nuclear test reactor that is currently shut down and awaiting decommissioning. It is located in the Myōjin chō in the city of Tsuruga, Fukui. The design is an Advanced Thermal Reactor, which is a product of Japan. The name "Fugen" is derived from the Fugen Bosatsu (Samantabhadra) god in Buddhism.

The reactor was the first in the world to use a full MOX fuel core. It had 772 assemblies, the most in the world. It has received the title of a historic landmark from the American Nuclear Society.

The design boils ordinary water like a boiling water reactor (BWR) but uses heavy water as a moderator as in a CANDU reactor. The electrical output was 165 MW and the thermal output was 557 MW. On March 3, 2005, the reactor stopped operations.

• Core temperature: 300 °C
• Pellet centerline temperature: 2200 °C
• Fuel conversion time: 6 months

The plant is located on a site that spans 267,694 m² (66 acres), the buildings occupy 7,762 m² (1.9 acres), and it has 46,488 m² of floor space. It employs 256 workers.

Accidents

• 14 - 16 April 1997 a tritium leakage was announced to the responsible authorities 30 hours after the event. During the following investigation it was shown that it already had 11 similar incidents. Five managers of the operator at that time (at the time: Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation) resigned.
• 8 April 2002 about 200 cubic meters of steam escaped from a defective pipe. The reactor was switched off.

Also with dismantling there were surprises: With controls it was stated that walls at 25 of 34 points did not have the necessary strength.

External links

• Official website
• Fugen Decommissioning Engineering Center
• Transcript of NHK TV special in Japanese NHK video