Monju Nuclear Power Plant, Nuclear power facility in Tsuruga, Japan.
Monju is a decommissioned sodium-cooled fast breeder reactor located in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture. The facility was designed with a net electrical capacity of 246 megawatts and belonged to an experimental reactor program focused on fuel generation.
Construction began in 1986 and the first chain reaction occurred in 1994. A sodium leak caused a fire in 1995, which led to operational suspension and the final decision to decommission in 2016.
The name Monju derives from Manjusri, a Buddhist figure representing wisdom, reflecting the Japanese practice of connecting industrial facilities to spiritual concepts.
The site is not open to the public as decommissioning work will continue until 2047. Operations require specialized procedures for handling radioactive materials and residual sodium coolant.
The reactor ran for less than one year over its entire operational lifespan and cost more than one trillion yen. Sodium-cooled fast breeder reactors are considered technically demanding because liquid sodium reacts violently when exposed to air or water.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
