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| Shika Nuclear Power Plant |
|
| Data |
| Country |
Japan |
| Operator |
Hokuriku Electric Power Company |
| Built |
1975 |
| Start of commercial operation |
July 30, 1993 |
| Reactors |
| Reactors active |
2 (1898 MW) |
| Power |
| Total power generation in 2006 |
7,456 GWh |
| Average annual generation (last 5 yrs) |
4,459 GWh |
| Net generation |
54,864 GWh |
| Other details |
|
As of July 25, 2007
|
The Shika Nuclear Power Plant (志賀原子力発電所, Shika genshiryoku hatsudensho?, Shika NPP) is a nuclear power plant located in the town of Shika, Ishikawa, Japan. It is owned and operated by the Hokuriku Electric Power Company.
[edit] Reactors on Site
[edit] 1999 Criticality Event
On June 18, 1999 during an inspection, an emergency control rod insertion was to be performed. One rod was to be inserted into the reactor, however, due to improper following of the procedure, instead of one rod inserting, 3 rods withdrew. For the next 15 minutes, the reactor was in a dangerous criticality state. This event was not revealed until March 15, 2007, since it was covered up in the records.
Immediately after the event was revealed, the president of the Hokuriku Electric Power Company was called to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry office and ordered to shut down the unit 1 reactor. Note that this was not the same president as when the event happened in 1999.
On June 5, 2007 the committee chairman of the Japan Nuclear Safety Commission inspected the control rod housing and drive mechanisms and evaluated that the event was due to cutting corners. He also concluded that the reactor operators at the time were under a lot of pressures from above, and simply punishing the operators would not be an effective deterrent for future accidents. One proposed measure was to have alarms automatically record when they go off so that records can not be altered.
[edit] External links
Coordinates: 37°03′40″N 136°43′35″E / 37.06111, 136.72639
