Posted on 01/16/2009 5:12:01 AM PST by Abathar
TSURUGA, Japan (AFP) – Japan, an economic giant with almost no natural energy resources, is eyeing restarting its "dream nuclear reactor" this year after a raft of safety scares closed the plant for more than 13 years.
The state-run Japan Atomic Energy Agency is putting the final touches to Monju, the nation's only fast-breeder reactor.
It has repeatedly postponed the relaunch as problems keep coming up and it struggles to convince many residents of Tsuruga, 350 kilometres (220 miles) west of Tokyo, of the plant's safety.
"Monju is far from being in a condition that would make local residents feel safe to run it again," said Miwako Ogiso, leader of a group opposed to the gigantic plant.
Fast-breeder reactors, or FBRs, have often been billed as "dream reactors" because they produce more fuel than they consume, producing plutonium by burning the waste left by more conventional light-water reactors.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
NIMBY is as lethal to sane nuclear policy as is “environmentalism”... and they, of course, go hand in hand.
Both in Japan and the USA.
How did the French defeat this form of inbred lethal insanity?
The Muslims torched their cars.
Things that make you say hmmmm.
Another brainiac reporter showing their utter stupidity.
"... burning the waste..."?! It TRANSMUTES U-238 into Pu-239.
Here's a good background article:
How do fast breeder reactors differ from regular nuclear power plants?
Howdo the French get by?
By desigining and testing a single reactor design and building it under a very close and strict QA inspection regiem. By operating the reactors the same way across the country -kinda like our Navy runs their reactors.
What not to do ?
Make each reactor a ‘one off’ design
Hire American contractors with low-ball bids, shoddy contrcution pactices and doing things on the cheap.
DO not perform in-process Quality inspections and testing.
You know, like Americans run thier program vs what the French do with their program.
Least ways, thats how it looks from here. YMMV.
The French have more than one nuclear reactor design
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf40.html
Scroll down to reactor engineering.
They do have less designs than we do. Then again, they have a lot less reactors than we do as well.
LOL
Yup
France is not quite as big as Texas. SO I guess the better metric would be reactor per 10K population or reactors per sq mile (oooopps, sq kM).
But the Navy has a few designs as well. I guess if commercial reactors were built and run like Navy units, I would sweat less.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.