14/04 Disassembly of N-reactors a joint effort? / Toshiba seeks cooperation of rival Hitachi

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Toshiba Corp. has proposed to rival Hitachi, Ltd. that the two companies join hands in decommissioning the crippled reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Wednesday.

Toshiba and Hitachi, manufacturers of some of the reactors at the plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co., had separately proposed their own decommissioning plans, including task lists and timetables.

But Toshiba has hinted that it would revise its decommissioning plan into one to be carried out jointly with Hitachi. A top Toshiba official said, "We're calling on [the Hitachi side] to work with us, as we will be working on the same site at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant."

Of the six nuclear reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, the Nos. 1 to 4 reactors need to be decommissioned. It is the first time in the world for four reactors to face such severe trouble simultaneously.

The No. 1 reactor was manufactured by General Electric Co., the No. 2 by GE and Toshiba, the No. 3 by Toshiba and the No. 4 by Hitachi.

Toshiba has called for Hitachi to decommission the reactors jointly, as the difficult task may face rough going in the aftermath of hydrogen explosions that occurred at the Nos. 1 and 3 reactors.

Hitachi has reportedly shown a positive stance on a joint decommissioning project with Toshiba. Even if the plan is realized, the work will take at least 10 years.

On April 4, Toshiba made a proposal on decommissioning to TEPCO, jointly with four U.S. companies, including its subsidiary Westinghouse Electric Co. Under that plan, the decommissioning work would be completed in about 10 years at the earliest.

Specifically, the work of cooling the interior of the overheated reactors and removing debris would be done in the next six months, while the following five years would be spent on removing fuel rods from the reactor and spent fuel rods from a storage pool. In the final five years, the buildings housing the reactors and other equipment would be dismantled, along with the reactors themselves, while the contaminated ground would undergo soil improvement and the whole lot would be left vacant.

Meanwhile, Hitachi has formed a 30-member team of experts, jointly with six other firms, including GE and leading U.S. industrial plant manufacturer Bechtel Corp.

The plan proposed by the Hitachi team includes the work of taking nuclear fuel out of the reactor, the decontamination of equipment and of buildings housing reactors and other machinery, the dismantling of the buildings and the disposal of waste following the dismantling. Under this plan, the entire task would take about 30 years.

The Hitachi plan is based on their experience of analogous work in the aftermath of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant accident in the United States and the Chernobyl nuclear plant accident in Ukraine, then a Soviet republic.

(Apr. 14, 2011)