Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant

The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant is a large, modern (housing the world's first ABWR) nuclear power plant on a 4.2 square kilometer site including land in the towns of Kashiwazaki and Kariwa in the Niigata Prefecture, Japan on the coast of the Sea of Japan, from where it gets cooling water. The plant is owned and operated by The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO).

It is the largest nuclear generating station in the world by net electrical power rating. It was near the epicenter of the strongest earthquake to ever occur at a nuclear plant, the Mw 6.6 July 2007 Chūetsu offshore earthquake. This shook the plant beyond design basis and initiated an extended shutdown for inspection, which indicated that greater earthquake-proofing was needed before operation could be resumed.

The nuclear power plant was completely shut down for 21 months following the earthquake. On May 9, 2009, one unit (Unit 7) was restarted, after seismic upgrades. A second unit was restarted in August 2009, Unit 6.

Reactors

There are seven units, which are all lined up along the coast line. Numbering starts at Unit 1 with the south-most unit up to Unit 4, then there is a large green space in between Unit 4 and 5, then it continues with Units 6 and 7, the newest of the reactors.

The power installation costs for units at this site well reflect the general trend in costs of nuclear plants. Capital costs increased through the 1980s but have become cheaper in modern times. The last two units were the first Advanced Boiling Water Reactors (ABWRs) ever built.


KK - 1 KK - 2 KK - 3 KK - 4 KK - 5 KK - 6 KK - 7
Reactor Type BWR BWR BWR BWR BWR ABWR ABWR
Net Power (MW) 1,067 1,067 1,067 1,067 1,067 1,315 1,315
Gross Power (MW) 1,100 1,100 1,100 1,100 1,100 1,356 1,356
Installation Costs
(1,000 yen/kW)
330 360 310 310 420 310 280


Performance
Such a large plant size has several economic advantages, one of these advantages is very little effect on net power production due to refueling outages of individual units. A smooth transition was seen in the power production history of the plant up through the time the last two units were built. Unfortunately, since completion the plant has seen two events that caused the entire plant to be shut down. The last of these two events is ongoing and data is not available yet, data for the rest of the plant's history is shown below:
Generation for the KK NPP by Unit and total in TW–h

Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 3 Unit 4 Unit 5 Unit 6 Unit 7 Total
1985 4.960





4.960
1986 6.704





6.704
1987 9.195





9.195
1988 6.960





6.960
1989 6.442


1.041

7.484
1990 5.987 5.386

7.911

19.284
1991 9.032 6.642

7.093

22.767
1992 6.958 9.047 0.053
6.977

23.035
1993 6.874 7.213 6.488 0.012 9.238

29.825
1994 7.020 7.291 7.264 6.040 7.155

34.771
1995 9.235 7.697 9.254 6.182 7.508

39.877
1996 6.814 8.811 7.922 8.068 7.906 5.663 0.058 45.242
1997 7.900 7.284 8.016 7.517 8.919 10.161 8.128 57.926
1998 6.176 8.142 6.748 9.259 7.353 10.702 9.716 58.095
1999 9.199 8.209 9.028 8.142 7.772 9.710 8.445 60.505
2000 7.715 8.140 7.945 6.919 7.043 9.412 11.240 58.413
2001 7.071 7.595 6.986 5.591 9.199 9.270 10.078 55.790
2002 5.906 5.866 5.576 9.240 8.191 11.504 7.990 54.273
2003 0.000 0.000 0.000 4.186 1.503 8.401 5.778 19.869
2004 6.497 4.660 6.550 5.624 6.135 8.635 10.805 48.906
2005 3.126 6.388 6.062 7.192 6.853 11.126 7.977 48.725
2006 6.299 9.331 7.331 2.817 8.400 8.447 8.166 50.792
2007 3.165 1.830 5.054 5.061 0.0 3.758 6.358 25.226
2008 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

2002 Scandal shut downs

The reactors at the KK plant were shut down one by one after the discovery of deliberate falsification of data. The first one was taken offline September 9, 2002 and the last one was taken offline January 27, 2003. The newest units, the more inherently safe ABWRs, were taken back online the quickest and suffered the smallest effect. Units 1, 2, and 3 on the other hand, generated no electricity whatsoever during the entire fiscal year of 2003.

Fuel
All reactors continue to use low-enriched Uranium as the nuclear fuel, however, there have been plans drafted by Tepco to use MOX fuel in some of the reactors by the permission of the Japanese Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC). A public referendum in the Kariwa village in 2001 voted 53% against use of the new fuel. After the 2002 Tepco data fabrication scandals, the president at the time, Nobuya Minami, announced that plans to use the MOX fuel at the KK plant would be suspended indefinitely.


List of Nuclear Power Plant

The following page lists all nuclear power plants in the world that are larger than 1,000 MW in current net capacity, which are currently operational or under construction. Those power stations that are smaller than 1,000 MW, and those that are only at a planning/proposal stage or decommissioned, may be found in regional lists at the end of the page.








List of Largest Nuclear Power Plant in the World



Power station Capacity (MW) Country
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant 7,965 Japan
Bruce Nuclear Generating Station 6,193 Canada
Ulchin Nuclear Power Plant 5,881 South Korea
Yeonggwang Nuclear Power Station 5,875 South Korea
Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant 5,700 Ukraine
Gravelines Nuclear Power Plant 5,460 France
Paluel Nuclear Power Plant 5,320 France
Cattenom Nuclear Power Plant 5,200 France
Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant 4,997 Japan
Ōi Nuclear Power Plant 4,710 Japan
Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant 4,696 Japan
Fukushima II Nuclear Power Plant 4,400 Japan
Pickering Nuclear Generating Station 4,336 Canada
Balakovo Nuclear Power Plant 4,000 Russia
Kursk Nuclear Power Plant 4,000 Russia
Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant 4,000 Russia
Cruas Nuclear Power Plant 3,824 France
Tricastin Nuclear Power Center 3,820 France
Chinon Nuclear Power Plant 3,816 France
Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant 3,760 Bulgaria
Darlington Nuclear Generating Station 3,740 Canada
Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station 3,739 United States
Bugey Nuclear Power Plant 3,724 France
Ringhals Nuclear Power Plant 3,662 Sweden
Genkai Nuclear Power Plant 3,478 Japan
Takahama Nuclear Power Plant 3,304 Japan
Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant 3,297 United States
Civaux Nuclear Power Plant 3,122 France
Chooz Nuclear Power Plant 3,120 France
Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant 3,087 Sweden
Kalinin Nuclear Power Plant 3,000 Russia
Smolensk Nuclear Power Plant 3,000 Russia
South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant 3,000 Ukraine
Tihange Nuclear Power Station 2,985 Belgium
Doel Nuclear Power Station 2,963 Belgium
Kori Nuclear Power Plant 2,951 South Korea
Gundremmingen Nuclear Power Plant 2,938 Germany
Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant 2,808 China
Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant 2,764 France
Penly Nuclear Power Plant 2,764 France
Golfech Nuclear Power Plant 2,726 France
Nogent Nuclear Power Plant 2,726 France
Rivne Nuclear Power Plant 2,645 Ukraine
Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant 2,579 South Korea
Biblis Nuclear Power Plant 2,525 Germany
Oconee Nuclear Generating Station 2,500 United States
South Texas Nuclear Generating Station 2,500 United States
Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant 2,430 United States
Novovoronezh Nuclear Power Plant 2,409 Russia
Isar Nuclear Power Plant 2,387 Germany
Philippsburg Nuclear Power Plant 2,384 Germany
Braidwood Nuclear Generating Station 2,362 United States
San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station 2,350 United States
Sequoyah Nuclear Power Plant 2,333 United States
Oskarshamn Nuclear Power Plant 2,308 Sweden
Salem Nuclear Power Plant 2,275 United States
Neckarwestheim Nuclear Power Plant 2,235 Germany
Susquehanna Nuclear Power Plant 2,216 United States
Comanche Peak Nuclear Generating Station 2,208 United States
Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant 2,174 Japan
Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant 2,120 China
Donald C. Cook Nuclear Power Plant 2,110 United States
Tomari Nuclear Power Plant 2,062 Japan
Ascó Nuclear Power Plant 2,060 Spain
Indian Point Energy Center - IPEC 2,050 United States
Millstone Nuclear Power Plant 2,030 United States
Ikata Nuclear Power Plant 2,022 Japan
Volgodonsk Nuclear Power Plant 2,000 Russia
Kuosheng Nuclear Power Plant 1,933 Taiwan
Saint Laurent Nuclear Power Plant 1,912 France
Almaraz Nuclear Power Plant 1,900 Spain
Khmelnitskiy Nuclear Power Plant 1,900 Ukraine
Shika Nuclear Power Plant 1,898 Japan
Beaver Valley Nuclear Generating Station 1,890 United States
Angra Nuclear Power Plant 1,855 Brazil
Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Power Plant 1,820 United States
Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant 1,808 Taiwan
Temelín Nuclear Power Plant 1,805 Czech
Koeberg Nuclear Power Plant 1,800 South Africa
Lemoniz Nuclear Power Plant 1,800 Spain
North Anna Nuclear Power Plant 1,790 United States
Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant 1,780 Finland
Sendai Nuclear Power Plant 1,780 Japan
Arkansas Nuclear One - ANO 1,776 United States
Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant 1,776 Czech
Greifswald Nuclear Power Plant 1,760 Germany
Kola Nuclear Power Plant 1,760 Russia
Nine Mile Point Nuclear Power Plant 1,757 United States
Paks Nuclear Power Plant 1,755 Hungary
Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Power Plant 1,726 United States
Quad Cities Nuclear Power Plant 1,700 United States
Saint Lucie Nuclear Power Plant 1,700 United States
Mihama Nuclear Power Plant 1,666 Japan
Surry Nuclear Power Plant 1,600 United States
Hartlepool Nuclear Power Plant 1,575 United Kingdom
Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant 1,517 Japan
Brokdorf Nuclear Power Plant 1,440 Germany
Grohnde Nuclear Power Plant 1,430 Germany
Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant 1,412 Romania
Unterweser Nuclear Power Plant 1,410 Germany
Krümmel Nuclear Power Plant 1,401 Germany
Emsland Nuclear Power Plant 1,400 Germany
Tarapur Atomic Power Plant 1,400 India
Torness Nuclear Power Plant 1,364 United Kingdom
Grafenrheinfeld Nuclear Power Plant 1,345 Germany
Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant 1,300 Lithuania
Laguna Verde Nuclear Power Plant (LVNPP) 1,300 Mexico
Lungmen Nuclear Power Plant 1,300 Taiwan
Shimane Nuclear Power Plant 1,280 Japan
Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant 1,270 United States
Tokai Nuclear Power Plant 1,266 Japan
Perry Nuclear Power Plant 1,260 United States
Columbia Nuclear Generating Station 1,250 United States
Hinkley Point B Nuclear Power Plant 1,250 United Kingdom
Callaway Nuclear Power Plant 1,236 United States
Leibstadt Nuclear Power Plant 1,220 Switzerland
Waterford Nuclear Power Plant 1,218 United States
Chin Shan Nuclear Power Plant 1,208 Taiwan
Dungeness Nuclear Power Plant 1,200 United Kingdom
Sizewell B Nuclear Power Plant 1,195 United Kingdom
Enrico Fermi Nuclear Power Plant 1,192 United States
Hunterston B Nuclear Power Plant 1,190 United Kingdom
Wolf Creek Nuclear Power Plant 1,166 United States
Hope Creek Nuclear Power Plant 1,120 United States
Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant 1,100 United States
Higashidori Nuclear Power Plant 1,100 Japan
Cofrentes Nuclear Power Plant 1,092 Spain
Vandellòs Nuclear Power Plant 1,087 Spain
Prairie Island Nuclear Power Plant 1,076 United States
Trillo Nuclear Power Plant 1,066 Spain
Gosgen Nuclear Power Plant 1,020 Switzerland
Loviisa Nuclear Power Plant 1,020 Finland
Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant 1,000 United States