Monju Nuclear Power Plant “unsafer” than thought

Lack of safety checks more serious than first admitted.

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency has again apologized after it emerged that more equipment at the Monju prototype fast-breeder reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture were overlooked for inspections. It revealed that 12,000 items escaped checks, some 2,000 more than initially announced.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority’s safety inspections of Monju spotted the additional 2,000 cases, JAEA said. The latest instances involved key safety equipment including a circulation pump used to inject sodium to cool the reactor.

NRA is planning a new round of investigations as the slipshod checks almost certainly represent a breach of operational safety programs stipulated under the law on the regulation of nuclear reactors. It said it will take at least until September to finish all the inspections.

JAEA also revised the number of equipment pieces for which inspections had been skipped and were yet to be finished as of the end of March, from some 2,000 to roughly 4,000.

In May, the NRA ordered the JAEA to suspend preparations for reactivating Monju and to modify its operational safety programs that detail protocols for safety controls. NRA said the JAEA had skipped inspections for 9,847 pieces of Monju equipment since 20