An electric power industry organization will postpone the wide-scale start of the “pluthermal” program, a pillar of the government’s nuclear fuel recycling project that has long been wracked by setbacks.
An electric power industry organization will postpone the wide-scale start of the “pluthermal” program, a pillar of the government’s nuclear fuel recycling project that has long been wracked by setbacks.
The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan (FEPC) had planned to use the program, which reuses plutonium from spent fuel, at 16 to 18 nuclear reactors in Japan by fiscal 2015.
However, the completion of two key facilities in the recycling project has been delayed, and prospects for restarting idled nuclear reactors remain dim.
The FEPC will decide on a new deadline after viewing situation surrounding possible restarts of the reactors.
Under the pluthermal program, spent nuclear fuel is reprocessed to remove plutonium and uranium, which are then used to manufacture “mixed oxide” (MOX) fuel. The MOX fuel is then used at light-water reactors.
One goal of the pluthermal program is to help reduce Japan’s huge stockpile of plutonium.
However, the deadline for the completion of a domestic plant to manufacture MOX fuel was postponed to October 2017.
And on Oct. 30, Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. pushed back the completion date of its Rokkasho reprocessing plant in Aomori Prefecture to March 2016. The Rokkasho plant, which will reprocess spent fuel under the recycling program, must pass stricter safety inspections for construction work to continue.
It was the 21st postponement for completion of the Rokkasho facility.
The multiple postponements, glitches, safety issues and enormous costs have raised doubts about the feasibility--and necessity--of the fuel recycling program.
After the government explained the project, the FEPC in 1997 announced plans to use the pluthermal program at 16 to 18 reactors of 11 companies, including nine major electric utilities, “by fiscal 2010.”
In 2009, however, the FEPC postponed the deadline to “by fiscal 2015.”
Before the March 2011 nuclear accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, the pluthermal program was used at four reactors, including the Fukushima plant’s No. 3 reactor and the Takahama nuclear power plant’s No. 3 reactor.
The reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel and manufacturing of MOX fuel have been conducted at overseas plants.
After the Fukushima disaster, however, operations of all nuclear reactors in Japan were suspended.
For the utilities to restart their idled reactors, they must pass tougher safety standards of the Nuclear Regulation Authority.
Although the FEPC is expected to maintain 16 to 18 as the number of reactors subject to the pluthermal program, the government plans to decrease the nation’s dependence on nuclear power generation, meaning the figure will likely decrease.
In addition, some reactors may be difficult to restart, including the Tsuruga nuclear power plant’s No. 2 reactor, where an active fault was found running below its building, according to the NRA.
Demand is growing in the industry for the government to offer support to electric power companies that are expected to use the pluthermal program.
They argue that the financial burden of each utility will increase if the number of reactors that would use MOX fuel is reduced.