Ikata Nuclear Power Plant

Important events

Accidents

On 3 March 2004, there was a coolant leak in Unit 3.

Technical achievements

On 13 August 2003, the maximum burnup for spent fuel was changed from 48,000 MWd/ton to 55,000 MWd/ton.

In January 2006 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries announced the completion of the replacement of the internal structure of the No.1 reactor. It was the world's first all-in-one extraction and replacement of the core internals of a PWR reactor. The upper and lower internals of the reactor were replaced in order to accommodate more control rods and allow for higher fuel burnup.

In 2010, a partial MOX fuel core was loaded into the No.3 reactor for the cycle beginning 24 February 2010.

Maintenance in 2011

On Sunday 4 September reactor no. 1 was shut down for regular inspections. These check-ups would last at least three months. At that time reactor No.3 was also shut down, although the normal inspections were long time finished before September. To resume operation, a stress test was required for all suspended reactors by the government, after the accidents in Fukushima. The Ehime prefectural government said it would decide whether to approve the resumption of operations after the results of the safety test came out. The Shikoku Electric Power Company said that if the No. 3 reactor did not resume operations, power supplies would be very tight in winter when electricity demand would be high. It was considered to restart a thermal power-plant which had been long out of use.

Nuclear evacuation drill held in 2012

In February 2012 an evacuation drill was held in the prefecture Ehime and Shimane. The drill was done to mimic the situation of a reactor cooling failure after a huge earthquake. The evacuation-zones were expanded from 10 to 30 kilometers after the disaster in Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. In this evacuation drill some 10.000 people were taken out of the area round the nuclear power plant, with buses, helicopters and boats of the Maritime Self-Defense Force. The residents in the town of Ikata, commanded by disaster announcements on the radio to gather at a junior high school. From there they were taken by buses to a shelter some 50 kilometers further. This drill was the first executed on this scale, and it was also the first time that so many people were evacuated out from their town.

Unit 3 restart in 2016

On 19 April 2016, unit 3 received from NRA the final approval to restarting. On 27 June, Shikoku Electric completed loading 157 fuel assemblies, of which 16 uranium-plutonium mixed oxide (MOX). Unit 3 achieved criticality on 13 August and resumed commercial service on 7 September. However, on 13 December 2017 the Hiroshima High Court revoked the lower court decision, ordering the close of the unit until the end of September 2018. Shikoku Electric plans to appeal. The dispute centres on the evaluation of earthquake risk under the stricter post Fukushima regulations. In January 2020 the High Court passed a further injunction against the operation of unit 3, again in part because an active fault nearby could not be ruled out as a full geological survey of the area had not been conducted.

Unit 3 restart in 2021

In March 2021, the Hiroshima High Court revoked the injunction, following an appeal by the plant operator, clearing it to resume operations. The court said residents bear the burden of proof for risks posed by the nuclear plant. The plant operator then planned to restart the reactor in October. Unit 3 was eventually restarted on 2 December 2021.

Cultural references

In the film Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995), Godzilla, suffering from nuclear meltdown, approached the nuclear plant for energy, emerging from below the surface of the Bungo Channel. The Japan Self Defense Forces are deployed to stall Godzilla and defend the facility, fearing that a direct attack against him could cause a nuclear explosion and destroy the planet. Thankfully, the Super X-III aircraft comes to the rescue and temporarily freezes Godzilla before he can begin attacking the power plant.