Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant

Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant
The Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant
Map
CountryJapan
Coordinates38°24′04″N 141°29′59″E / 38.40111°N 141.49972°E / 38.40111; 141.49972
StatusOut of service for 13 years, 8 months
Construction beganJuly 8, 1980 (1980-07-08)
Commission dateJune 1, 1984 (1984-06-01)
OperatorTohoku Electric Power Company
Nuclear power station
Reactor typeBWR
Power generation
Units operational1 x 524 MW
2 x 825 MW
Nameplate capacity2,174 MW
Capacity factor0%
Annual net output0 GW·h
External links
Websitewww.tohoku-epco.co.jp/genshi/onagawa/index.html, English version
CommonsRelated media on Commons
[edit on Wikidata]

The Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant (女川原子力発電所, Onagawa (pronunciationⓘ) genshiryoku hatsudensho, Onagawa NPP) is a nuclear power plant located on a 1,730,000 m2 (432 acres) site[1] in Onagawa in the Oshika District and Ishinomaki city, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. It is managed by the Tohoku Electric Power Company. It was the most quickly constructed nuclear power plant in the world.[citation needed]

All the reactors were constructed by Toshiba.[2] The Onagawa-3 unit was used as a prototype for the Higashidori Nuclear Power Plant.[3]

The plant had been shut down after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. The Onagawa nuclear power plant was the closest nuclear power plant to the epicenter, and facing the Pacific Ocean on Japan's north-east coast, experienced very high levels of ground shaking – among the strongest of any plant affected by the earthquake – and some flooding from the tsunami that followed.[4] All three reactors at the power plant successfully withstood the earthquake and tsunami without accident.[5]

Following an IAEA inspection in 2012, the agency stated that "The structural elements of the NPS (nuclear power station) were remarkably undamaged given the magnitude of ground motion experienced and the duration and size of this great earthquake".[4][6] More recently, Tohoku Electric reported that the third floor of No. 2 reactor building lost about 70% of its structural rigidity and the first floors lost 25%, compared to when they were built, and was planning to reinforce the structures for increased quake resistance.[7] In 2013 the station operators sent an application request to restart unit 2 at Onagawa to the Japanese Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA).[8] Reactor 2 finally restarted on October 29 2024.[9][10]

  1. ^ Tohoku Power. The Onagawa Plant (information) Archived 21 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ^ Toshiba. Nuclear List of Delivered Units Archived 2 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ^ Tohoku Power. Higashidori Nuclear Power Station.
  4. ^ a b Section, United Nations News Service (10 August 2012). "UN News – Japanese nuclear plant 'remarkably undamaged' in earthquake – UN atomic agency". Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  5. ^ "Japanese nuclear plant survived tsunami, offers clues". Reuters. 20 October 2011.
  6. ^ "IAEA Expert Team Concludes Mission to Onagawa NPP". 10 August 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  7. ^ "1,130 cracks, 70% rigidity lost at Onagawa reactor building：The Asahi Shimbun". Archived from the original on 19 January 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  8. ^ "Tohoku seeks Onagawa 2 restart". Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  9. ^ Shimbun, The Yomiuri (5 October 2024). "Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant Reactor to Resume Power Generation Early November; Tohoku Electric Power Co. President: 'Schedule for Restart Is Almost as Planned'". japannews.yomiuri.co.jp. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  10. ^ "Japan's Tohoku Elec restarts Onagawa reactor after 13-year hiatus – Reuters". Reuters. Retrieved 29 October 2024.