Current status toward the re-operation of JMTR

Kaminaga, Masanori  ; Tanimoto, Masataka ; Ooka, Makoto; Ishihara, Masahiro ; Kusunoki, Tsuyoshi ; Naito, Akinori; Araki, Masanori

JMTR in JAEA is a light water cooled tank type reactor with 50MW thermal power. From its first criticality in March 1968, the JMTR has been utilized for fuel/material irradiation examinations of LWRs, HTGR and fusion reactor as well as for RI productions under its transportation advantage that the JMTR and hot laboratory is connected by a canal. In August 2006, the JMTR operation was once stopped in order to have a check & review for the reoperation which was discussed by internal as well as external committees. As a result of the national discussion, the JMTR was determined, finally, to restart after necessary refurbishment works. The refurbishment was started from the beginning of JFY 2007, and replaced were motors of primary and secondary cooling pumps, nuclear instrumentation system, and so on. The refurbishment was finished in March 2011 as planned. Unfortunately, at the end of the JFY 2010 on March 11, the Great-Eastern-Japan-Earthquake occurred, and functional tests before the JMTR restart were delayed by the earthquake. Seismic influence evaluation for the JMTR because of the 3.11 earthquake was carried out with directions of the government. As a result, integrity of the JMTR reactor facilities has been evaluated and verified for re-operation. Seismic influence evaluation results were reported to the regulatory agency on Sep.7, 2012. Validation evaluation of the seismic influence evaluation results is still underway by the NRA. On the other hand, new regulatory requirements for research and test reactors will be established on Dec.18, 2013 by the NRA. JMTR will be re-started after the completion of validation evaluation of the seismic influence evaluation results and confirmation of suitability against the new regulatory requirements for research and test reactors by the NRA. The renewed JMTR will be operated for a period of about 20 years until around JFY 2030.