On January 26, Chubu Electric Power Co. filed an application with the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) for a permit to change its reactor installation in way that would enable it to construct a spent fuel dry storage facility at its Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station.
Aiming to start operation of the facility in FY18 (April 2018 to March 2019), the power company intends to respond affirmatively to the NRA’s examination once it is made
At the dry storage facility, Chubu Electric Power will put spent fuel — already cooled in a pool for a decade or longer — into radiation-shielded metal casks, storing it in an environment with circulated cooled natural air until the fuel can be delivered to a reprocessing facility. According to its plan, the facility will be capable of storing 2,200 spent fuel assemblies.
The power company had been preparing to file the application for the construction of the dry storage facility since 2008, when it first announced the plan. When it submitted a separate application to the NRA in February 2014 for an examination of its Hamaoka Unit 4 reactor for compatibility with the new regulatory standards, it also addressed the matter of the interim storage facility.
