Press ReleasesNippon Paper Group to Use Wood Rubble from the Great East Japan Earthquake as Fuel at Ishinomaki Mill

Nippon Paper Group, Inc.

The Ishinomaki Mill (Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture) of Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd. (President: Yoshio Haga), the main company of the Nippon Paper Group, has started in-house power generation at its N1 turbine, attached to biomass Boiler 1, which commenced continuous and full-scale operation on August 20. In association with that, the Group has decided to incinerate wood rubble (hereinafter "rubble") from the Great East Japan Earthquake at the Ishinomaki Mill, at the request of the governor of Miyagi Prefecture, and at the same time to use it as fuel to generate power.

Boiler 1 at the Ishinomaki Mill, which started full-scale operation, uses wood waste as fuel. Through consultation with Miyagi Prefecture, the Group has decided to break up rubble in the Ishinomaki area (Ishinomaki, Higashimatsushima, and Onagawa) and burn it in the boiler as fuel. The Group has already been bringing in rubble to the Ishinomaki Mill on a trial basis since August 22. Once an agreement is concluded with Miyagi Prefecture, the Group plans to use 120,000 tons of rubble per year as fuel. Part of the electricity, up to 40,000 kilowatts (electricity for 100,000 households), generated at the Ishinomaki Mill is supplied to Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. The Group started electric power transmission on August 21.

For full-scale reconstruction after the Great East Japan Earthquake, disposing of rubble is a challenge in the areas affected by the tsunami. Now that the privately owned power generation at the Ishinomaki Mill, which was badly damaged by the earthquake, has resumed operation, the Group will contribute to reconstruction in the affected areas by using rubble as fuel at the mill.