Not your typical "Ooops!"

[kristopher]

Monju reactor obstruction is removed
Kyodo

Tsuruga, Fukui Pref. — A device that fell last August into the vessel of the Monju prototype fast-breeder reactor was finally retrieved Friday, paving the way for resuming its normal operation by autumn, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency said.

But due to the nuclear disaster involving the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, triggered by the March earthquake and tsunami, it is unclear whether the country's nuclear fuel recycling project, in which the prototype reactor plays an important role, can move ahead as planned.

The agency hopes to test operating the reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, at 40 percent of its output capacity by the end of March with the aim of achieving full operation by the end of March 2014.

In an operation that took about eight hours, a crane was used to remove the 12-meter-long, 3.3-ton device together with part of a vessel lid where it got stuck.

The cylindrical device, used to load fuel...

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110624x2.html



See also: http://nuclearhistory.wordpress.com/2011/03/20/monju-and-fukushima-a-couplet-of-reactor-park-and-fuel-reprocessing/

[Wilms]

1. Good news. Though still a money pit.

Thom Hartmann: Second Japan Nuke...more dangerous than Fukushima?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x594394

[kristopher]

2. I don't think they are going to be able to bring this facility back online.

But it is good that they can put it into mothballs properly.