Efforts toward the restart of fast breeder reactor Monju

Morizono, Koji; Takeuchi, Norihiko; Takayama, Koichi; Deshimaru, Takehide; Mukai, Kazuo

Prototype fast breeder reactor Monju is the first power generating FBR in Japan which is a plant for research & development to demonstrate reliability of fast breeder reactor as a power plant and establish sodium handling technology etc. Monju started construction in 1985, achieved initial criticality in 1994 and attained 40% output in 1995, however the sodium leak accident occurred during the test operation at the end of that year. Since then, the plant remained shut down for 12 years. In this subject, our efforts for the restart of this long term shut down plant will be presented.