In a landmark referendum on Japan's nuclear-fuel recycling program, held last Sunday in Kariwa, Niigata Prefecture, a majority of village residents voted against a Tokyo Electric Power Co. project to use plutonium as reactor fuel at its nuclear-power plant there. The so-called pluthermal program, which involves burning plutonium recovered from spent nuclear fuel in existing light-water reactors, is now stalled in Niigata and two other prefectures, Fukui and Fukushima.
The vote has further clouded the prospects for nuclear-fuel recycling, dealing yet another setback to the nation's nuclear-energy policy. It has sent a wake-up call to the government and to the electric-power companies that run nuclear-power plants. Now, both need to address even more seriously residents' fears and concerns about nuclear energy and make further efforts to gain their support.
The pluthermal program, approved by the Cabinet in 1997, uses mixed fuel of uranium and plutonium, known as mixed oxide (MOX). According to the original plan, MOX fuel was to be introduced in stages, beginning in the late 1990s, at three nuclear plants in Fukui, Fukushima and Niigata; eventually, by around 2010, the mixed fuel would have been used in a total of 16 to 18 reactors throughout the country.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.