Nuclear fuel recycling program takes 1st step

Satoshi Yamada, Kenichi Wakamatsu and Akihiro Nakamura / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

SAGA--Japan's long-awaited nuclear fuel recycling program took its first step this week as Kyushu Electric Power Co. activated a nuclear reactor meant to generate plutonium-thermal power.

However, observers predict the government will have a tough time getting so-called pluthermal power generation--the use of spent nuclear fuel to generate electricity--on track, pointing out the serious delays that have occurred in completing a reprocessing plant and other related facilities.

Industry members welcomed Thursday's activation of the No. 3 reactor at the Genkai nuclear power plant in Genkaicho, Saga Prefecture. The 1.18-gigawatt light water reactor went critical that evening.

Test operations of pluthermal power generation will start Monday, the company said.

Shojiro Matsuura, president of the Nuclear Safety Research Association, expressed relief at the activation, saying: "The launch of plutonium-thermal power generation had been delayed again and again due to various problems. At last we've reached this stage."

Matsuura, 73, also is a former chairman of the Nuclear Safety Commission. He has been researching pluthermal power generation since the 1960s.

The government has named pluthermal power generation as the main pillar of its envisaged nuclear fuel recycling program for this country, which must import most of its energy resources from abroad.

About 1,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel, including uranium ember and newly produced plutonium, is created annually in Japan by 53 nuclear reactors. In pluthermal power generation, such fuels are collected and used as plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel.

Such a nuclear fuel recycling program is expected to contribute to efficient energy use and reduce the amount of nuclear waste.

The administration of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama sees nuclear power plants as a key element in the fight against global warming, as they emit very little carbon dioxide when generating electricity. The administration also is paying close attention to pluthermal power generation.

Pluthermal power generation has international significance as well. As of June, this country possessed 28 tons of plutonium reprocessed from spent nuclear fuel, and the government has promised the international community it will not possess greater amounts than necessary of plutonium that could be diverted to military use. It is therefore important for the government to implement a nuclear fuel recycling program.

There are two ways to recycle such fuel. One is pluthermal power generation, the other is to process spent fuel through fast-breeder reactors, which are still in the research and development phase. Work on the latter possibility has been at a standstill since operations at the Monju fast-breeder reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, were suspended after a sodium coolant leak in 1995.

In 1997, the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan announced it would introduce pluthermal power generation at 16 to 18 nuclear reactors by 2010. However, a scandal surfaced in 1999 in which British Nuclear Fuels PLC was found to have doctored inspection data on MOX fuel it produced for Kansai Electric Power Co.

Three years later, Tokyo Electric Power Co. was discovered to have concealed problems at nuclear reactors. Due to these incidents, the electric companies could not win the consent of the local residents, significantly delaying the introduction of pluthermal power generation.

After the failure of TEPCO and KEPCO, it was Kyushu Electric Power that ultimately became the first company to come this close to actual pluthermal power generation. Nuclear power currently accounts for about 40 percent of the company's total electrical output.

One reason for the company's success is that there have been no reports of trouble with its reactors since it embarked on nuclear power generation in 1994. As a result, it has been able to build friendly relationships with local governments.