JAPC to incorporate Mitsubishi reactors

Tsuruga Nuclear APWR Expansion adds two MHI advanced pressurized water reactors at JAPC's TNPS, boosting capacity by 3,076 MW, with Units 3 and 4 timelines aligning to Comanche Peak's overseas deployment.

After 20 years of zero nuclear power development, Japan Atomic Power Company JAPC is planning to expand the production capacity of the Tsuruga Nuclear Power Station TNPS from the current level of 1,517 megawatts MW to 4,593 MW.

TNPS, which is JAPC's second nuclear power station, is in the town of Tsuruga in the Fukui prefecture, approximately 350 kilometers west of Tokyo, amid a broader nuclear industry push in Japan. The Tokai Nuclear Power Station in the Ibaraki prefecture was Japan's first nuclear power station.

JAPC, with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Limited MHI as its design-builder and Maeda Corporation as its contractor, is conducting site preparation at TNPS even as largest nuclear plant restart approval is pending in Japan, and expects to be finished in April 2012. Construction of Unit 3 will commence immediately afterward, while site preparation of Unit 4 will continue until April 2014. Shortly before Unit 3 is finished in June 2016, construction of Unit 4 is expected to begin, while a plant slated for completion by 2020 has also been announced in Japan. Once Unit 4 is complete and operational in April 2018, TNPS's capacity will increase by 3,076 MW.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Limited, which is serving as JAPC's design-builder, will be in charge of the fabrication and installation of two MHI 1,538-MW, advanced pressurized water reactors APWR, one at Unit 3 and one at Unit 4. TNPS will be the first Japanese site to utilize MHI's APWR, supporting plans to expand nuclear capacity nationwide. Commanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant in Somervell County, Texas, is set to begin construction of its units 3 and 4 during the same timeframe, with TEPCO interest in Texas project also noted, and will be the first overseas site to incorporate MHI's APWR.

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