Chugoku Electric Outlines Shimane-1 Decommissioning Schedule

9 May (NucNet): Chugoku Electric Power Company has released a decommissioning plan for its 439-MW Shimane-1 nuclear plant in Shimane prefecture, southwest Japan, which says decommissioning will be completed by the end of March 2046. Decommissioning will begin this year and until March 2030 will consist of preparation for dismantling work. Peripheral reactor equipment will also be dismantled and removed. Dismantling of the reactor itself will begin in fiscal year 2030, which ends on 31 March 2031. Spent nuclear fuel assemblies need to be removed from the site before the reactor is dismantled, the plan says. Shimane-1, a boiling water reactor unit, began commercial operated in March 1974. According to the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum five reactors in Japan have been designated by their operators for decommissioning. The five are Mihama-1 and Mihama-2; Tsuruga-1; Kyushu Electric Power Company’s Genkai-1; and Shimane-1.