日本決定報廢文殊反應堆所在地政府“火大”
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日本政府21日舉行的原子能相關閣僚會議，正式決定不重啟爭議多多的快中子增殖原型反應堆“文殊”，而予以報廢。
此舉意味著，這個坐落於日本福井縣內，早在1985年便動工，迄今已先後“燒”掉上萬億日元公帑的巨型國家“樣板項目”，由此將失敗收場。
決定將“文殊”反應堆報廢的主要理由，係指其重啟的時間和經濟成本大，且難以找到新的運營主體。此間有分析認為，其背景在於福島核電站事故後，日本上下對核電安全的要求陡然嚴苛。
不過，要將這個飽受議論的“黑洞”項目蓋上蓋子，也並非輕而易舉之事。據此間官方估算，整個報廢過程，包括大量核廢棄物處理之類棘手問題，將耗時30年，且至少需要3750億日元費用。
作為旨在經由再處理核電站乏燃料棒、將取出的钚用作燃料的核燃料循環利用的“樣板工程”，“文殊”被日本視為核電領域重要研究方向。然而其1994年首次臨界後，接連發生鈉洩漏事故等故障，一直未能滿負荷運轉，實際運轉天數僅為250天。
不過，日本並未因此番報廢“文殊”而放棄誘惑力巨大的快中子增殖反應堆技術研究。其內閣官房長官菅義偉在當天的閣僚會議中，強調仍將堅持核燃料循環利用政策。新近成立的官方認證機構“乏燃料再處理機構”負責人此前亦稱，對钚進行有效利用的政府基本方針沒有變化。
有消息稱，日本計劃今後與法國合作，繼續研究更為實用的快中子增殖反應堆技術。
與此同時，報廢“文殊”的決定令其所在地福井縣的主政官員頗為“火大”，在之前的“文殊”相關磋商會上，福井縣知事西川一誠便以未獲當地理解和同意為由，直言“無法接受報廢”。作為此前一直力挺國家核電政策的“模範”自治體，此番其失落感可想而知。此間分析認為，除“文殊”之外，福井縣內還坐落著多個核電設施，若日本中央政府因廢棄“文殊”而與當地交惡，或對重啟核電計劃帶來影響。
Monju prototype reactor, once a key cog in Japan’s nuclear energy policy, to be scrapped
KYODO
Once envisioned as playing a key role in Japan’s nuclear fuel-recycling policy, the controversial Monju prototype fast-breeder atomic reactor will now be scrapped, the government formally announced Wednesday.
The reactor, in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, has been a magnet for controversy, barely operating over the past two decades despite its planned key role.
Wednesday’s ministerial decision came in spite of a failure to obtain local support for the decommissioning plan. It was also the end of a process that included a discussion of Japan’s overall fast-reactor policy by the government panel.
The government has invested more than ¥1 trillion ($8.5 billion) in research and development for the reactor — which was designed to produce more plutonium than it consumes while generating electricity — in hopes it would serve as a linchpin of nuclear fuel-recycling efforts.
Because resource-poor Japan relies on uranium imports to power its conventional reactors, the government will still continue to develop fast reactors in pursuit of a nuclear fuel cycle that reprocesses spent fuel and reuses plutonium and uranium extracted through reprocessing.
But Monju’s fate is sure to prompt more public scrutiny of the fuel-cycle policy, with many nuclear reactors left idled after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. That crisis has left much of the public wary of nuclear power.
With Monju’s decommissioning, and the accompanying loss of jobs and subsidies, the central government also risks damaging its rapport with Fukui Prefecture, which hosts a number of other currently shuttered atomic power plants along the Sea of Japan coast.
The government has calculated it will cost at least ¥375 billion over 30 years to fully decommission the facility. It plans to remove the spent nuclear fuel from the reactor by 2022 and finish dismantling by 2047.
Monju achieved sustained nuclear reactions, which technically constitutes criticality, in 1994. But a series of problems, including a leak of sodium coolant the following year, has left it largely mothballed for the subsequent two decades.
Restarting operations at the plant would have cost at least ¥540 billion, according to government forecasts.
“We will decommission Monju given that it would take a considerable amount of time and expense to resume its operations,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at Wednesday’s meeting.
“The nuclear fuel cycle is at the core of our energy policy,” Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko told reporters after the meeting. His ministry will take over from the science ministry in overseeing the development of more practical fast reactors.
“We will make full use of the highly valuable knowledge and expertise acquired at Monju as we move forward with fast reactor development … first by concentrating on creating a strategic road map,” Seko said.
Earlier Wednesday, the central government held a meeting with Fukui Gov. Issei Nishikawa, who told reporters afterward that he remains opposed to scrapping the facility.
Nishikawa said in the meeting that decommissioning cannot begin without the approval of both the prefecture and Tsuruga.
“The governor told us today … that he wants a more thorough explanation of the specific mechanisms by which decommissioning will be carried out,” Seko said after the decision was made. “We will create opportunities for dialogue with the local area.”
Nishikawa had said at a similar meeting Monday that the central government had not given a sufficient justification for decommissioning Monju or considered the plant’s operation history sufficiently.
He has also argued that the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, which operates Monju, is incapable of safely dismantling the reactor.
A nuclear regulatory body recommended last year that the JAEA be disqualified from operating the facility following revelations of mismanagement, including a massive number of equipment inspection failures in 2012.
Science minister Hirokazu Matsuno instructed JAEA President Toshio Kodama on Wednesday to come up with a decommissioning plan by around April next year. The government has said it plans to take third-party technical opinions into account in working out how the decommissioning will take place.
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