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"Radioactive leakage from fuel rods at a nuclear power plant in the city of Tsuruga in Fukui prefecture on Honshu island of Japan are believed to be the cause of a surge in the density of toxic substances detected in coolant water, the prefectural government said Monday. Japan Atomic Power Company, owner and operator of the potentially faulty nuclear plant, has said it will attempt to manually override the plant's No. 2 reactor's system in an effort to contain the leak and conduct further investigation into its critical cooling systems. The utility firm operating the 1,160-megawatt No.2 reactor at its Tsuruga nuclear plant cited "technical difficulties" at the reactor and while claiming there had been no radiation leak did confirm a possible leak of iodine from the reactor's nuclear fuel assemblies into its coolant system, adding a new saga to the nation's ever-unfolding nuclear crisis."

Japan Atomic Power Co. will continue operating Japan's oldest commercial-basis light-water reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, through 2016, scrapping its initial plan to suspend its operation next year, its chief said Thursday. Hiroshi Morimoto, president of Japan Atomic Power, conveyed the decision in a meeting with Fukui prefectural officials. Japan Atomic Power had intended to cease operating the boiling-water No. 1 reactor in 2010 to coincide with planned start of operations of two new reactors - No. 3 and No. 4 reactors - at the Tsuruga nuclear plant.

The 1.18 million-kW No. 3 reactor at Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s Genkai nuclear power plant in Saga Prefecture, which is Japan's first reactor using plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) as fuel, attained nuclear criticality last Thursday and started trial operations Monday (commerical operations are to start on Dec. 2). Thus "pluthermal" power generation has begun, but many problems remain unresolved. MOX fuel, made of plutonium extracted from spent nuclear fuel and uranium, was primarily intended for use in a fast breeder reactor (FBR), the core of Japan's nuclear fuel-cycle plan. But the prototype FBR Monju in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, has remained shuttered since a major accident in 1995. As a secondary step, the government in 1997 decided to adopt pluthermal power generation, which burns MOX fuel in ordinary light water reactors. But mishaps delayed its start by 10 years.

The 1.18 million-kW No. 3 reactor at Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s Genkai nuclear power plant in Saga Prefecture, which is Japan's first reactor using plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) as fuel, attained nuclear criticality last Thursday and started trial operations Monday (commerical operations are to start on Dec. 2). Thus "pluthermal" power generation has begun, but many problems remain unresolved. MOX fuel, made of plutonium extracted from spent nuclear fuel and uranium, was primarily intended for use in a fast breeder reactor (FBR), the core of Japan's nuclear fuel-cycle plan. But the prototype FBR Monju in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, has remained shuttered since a major accident in 1995. As a secondary step, the government in 1997 decided to adopt pluthermal power generation, which burns MOX fuel in ordinary light water reactors. But mishaps delayed its start by 10 years.

"The Monju prototype fast-breeder reactor was relaunched Tuesday after being suspended for four days for a scheduled checkup of data collected from the initial stage of operations following its restart nearly a month ago, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency said. The 280,000-kw reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, restarted at 10:10 a.m. after staff pulled out control rods that had prevented nuclear reaction. The reactor resumed test operations May 6 following more than 14 years of suspension. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency will soon conduct two days of checks required for full operation of the reactor planned for 2013."

Japan, an economic giant with almost no natural energy resources, is eyeing restarting its "dream nuclear reactor" this year after a raft of safety scares closed the plant for more than 13 years. The state-run Japan Atomic Energy Agency is putting the final touches to Monju, the nation's only fast-breeder reactor. It has repeatedly postponed the relaunch as problems keep coming up and it struggles to convince many residents of Tsuruga, 350 kilometres (220 miles) west of Tokyo, of the plant's safety.

Lightning struck an electric power cable Thursday at the nuclear plant in Mihama, Fukui Prefecture, automatically shutting down operations at two reactors and causing a small amount to nonradioactive steam to leak inside one of them, prefectural officials said. A false alarm for a sodium coolant leak occurred at the Monju prototype fast-breeder reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, at about the same time, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency said.

Up to 150 tons of water could splash out from the pool for spent fuel at the Monju fast breeder nuclear reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, if a magnitude 7-level earthquake struck the area, a study has shown. During the Chuetsu offshore earthquake that hit Niigata Prefecture in July last year, 8.5 tons overflowed from the fuel pools of the No. 1 to No. 7 reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant in Niigata Prefecture. The latest study shows that the amount that would overflow at the Monju reactor would be 18 times larger.

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency announced Wednesday it would postpone until February the resumption of operations of the Monju fast-breeder reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture. The JAEA initially planned to resume operations of the reactor, which has remained inoperative since a sodium leak in October 1995.

FUKUI--Nuclear fuel was brought Friday into the Monju fast-breeder reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, which had been shut down since a sodium leak accident in December 1995. The last time nuclear fuel was brought into the reactor was in November 1995, shortly before the accident.

"High-Level Radioactive Waste Shipped from the UK The first shipment of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) from the UK arrived in Rokkasho Mutsu-Ogawara Port, Aomori Prefecture on March 9. For the sake of a failed nuclear fuel cycle policy, the world has been forced to endure, and will continue to suffer for at least the next ten years, all the risks associated with transporting the HLW back and forth between Japan and Europe. Prospects for Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Units 1 and 5 33% of the 8,212MW seven-unit KK Nuclear Power Station's total capacity has been brought back on line since the July 2007 Chuetsu-oki Earthquake. For the time being deliberations concerning Unit 1 are being prioritized. Unit 5 will not resume operations until deliberations concerning unit 1 are completed. At this stage the prospects for both units are still very unclear. Ryusuke Umeda Lodges Historic Workers' Compensation Claim Thirty years ago Ryusuke Umeda was exposed to radiation while working at the Shimane and Tsuruga nuclear power plants. In September 2008 he applied for workers' compensation for myocardial infarction and in February this year he caught an all night bus to Tokyo from Fukuoka City on the island of Kyushu to present his case directly to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW). Public Involvement in Japan's Nuclear Power Licensing System Japan has formal procedures for public involvement and information disclosure in relation to the approval of nuclear power plants. However, public hearings and public comment processes tend to be proforma in nature. If residents have not blocked the project before these procedures begin, the process develops a momentum of its own which is hard to reverse."

"Japan, the third-biggest nuclear power generator, restarted an experimental fast-breeder reactor that had been shut since 1995 after an accident and a cover-up. State-controlled Japan Atomic Energy Agency removed control rods to resume operation at 10:36 a.m. local time at the Monju reactor in Tsuruga City in central Japan after getting safety clearances from the government, Tokyo-based spokesman Shinichi Suga said by telephone. A leak of liquid sodium, used for cooling, and a fire forced a halt on Dec. 8, 1995. While no radiation leaked to the environment, operators admitted editing videotape to conceal the extent of the damage, stoking the public's safety concerns. The development of a fast-breeder reactor, which uses spent nuclear fuel from other plants, is a pillar of Japan's energy policy. "

"The Monju prototype fast breeder nuclear power reactor, which has been gearing up for an early May restart after a 15-year stoppage, suffered a temporary glitch in a coolant leakage detector Tuesday that the Japan Atomic Energy Agency reported had no impact on the environment, Japanese media reported. However, one Japanese nuclear industry source familiar with the Monju project was quoted as saying in Japan Today that malfunctions of this type - and worse - are "inevitable" in such reactors. The government-affiliated agency said the sodium detector, housed in an auxiliary building to the reactor at the Monju centre in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, came to a halt after a fan motor overheated, triggering an alarm at 11:59 p.m. Monday. A fire accompanying a sodium leak shut down the reactor in December 1995, and the project has not been restarted since. Another restart date for the reactor had been scheduled for March 2009."

"An alarm that gauges the temperature of an auxiliary cooling pipe of the Monju prototype fast-breeder reactor located in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, was set off on Sunday apparently after detecting abnormality but it was transient and poses no threat to safety, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency said. The alarm indicating the temperature outside the pipe went below the designated figure went off at around 7:50 a.m., but it posed no harm to the 280,000-kilowatt reactor as the heater there automatically turned on to keep the temperature at the designated level, the agency said."