Mihama Nuclear Power Plant: Difference between revisions
new page |
(No difference)
|
Revision as of 05:46, 27 June 2007
The Mihama nuclear power plant is operated by Kansai Electric Power Company and is in Fukui perfecture, about 320 km west of Tokyo.[1]
On 9 August, 2004, an accident occurred in a building housing turbines for the Mihama 3 reactor.[2] Hot water and steam leaking from a broken pipe killed five workers and resulted in six others being injured. The accident has been called Japan's worst nuclear power accident.[3][4]
The Mihama 3 is an 826 megawatts electric, 3-loop Westinghouse type pressurized-water reactor (PWR) which has been in service since 1976. The pipe rupture occurred in a 55.9 centimeter (cm) (22 inch) outside diameter pipe in the ‘A’ loop condensate system between the fourth feedwater heater and the deaerator, downstream of an orifice for measuring single-phase water flow. At the time of the secondary piping rupture, 105 workers were preparing for periodic inspections to commence.[5]
A review of plant parameters did not uncover any precursor indicators before the accident nor were there any special operations that could have caused the pipe rupture. An investigation concluded that water quality had been maintained since the commissioning of the plant.[6]
Japan's previous worst accident at a nuclear facility took place at a uranium processing plant in Tokaimura, north of Tokyo, on September 30, 1999, when an uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction was triggered after three poorly trained workers used buckets to mix nuclear fuel in a tub. The resulting release of radiation killed two workers, and injured hundreds.[7]
References
- ^ Four killed in nuclear plant accident
- ^ Four killed in nuclear plant accident
- ^ Japan's shaky nuclear record
- ^ Japanese utility to shut reactor after admitting accident cover-up
- ^ Secondary piping rupture at the Mihama Power Station in Japan
- ^ Secondary piping rupture at the Mihama Power Station in Japan
- ^ Japan's shaky nuclear record