The government on Thursday approved a plan by Kansai Electric Power Co. to procure mixed uranium-plutonium oxide fuel from overseas.
The decision paves the way for the resumption of Japan's pluthermal, or plutonium-thermal, power generation scheme using MOX fuel. The scheme has been stalled since the eruption of a data-forgery scandal in 1999.
The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, a unit of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, made the decision known at a meeting of the Nuclear Safety Commission.
Company officials said Kepco aims to start using the MOX fuel at a nuclear power plant in the town of Takahama, Fukui Prefecture, in 2007. It hopes to sign a contract by the end of March with a foreign manufacturer for production of the fuel after winning support from local governments, they said.
In 1999, British Nuclear Fuels PLC doctored data on MOX fuel it produced for use at the Takahama nuclear power plant.
Pledging to prevent a recurrence, Kepco submitted to the agency in October a set of measures that call for clarifying required product-quality guarantees from manufacturers and dispatching Kepco staff members to manufacturers to inspect the manufacturing process, the officials said.