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March 29, 2012

Japan's nuclear policy review proceeds

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20120329_12.html

Japan's Atomic Energy Commission has proposed 3 ways to dispose of spent nuclear fuel from the country's nuclear plants.

The commission has been reviewing Japan's nuclear energy policy in the wake of last year's accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The first of 3 proposals made by a commission working group on Wednesday calls for proceeding with the current project of reprocessing plutonium from spent nuclear fuel into uranium-plutonium mixed oxide, or MOX, fuel. The fuel could be used for a fast-breeder nuclear reactor once it's in practical use.

The second proposal calls for Japan to give up all fast-breeder reactor research and fuel recycling, and to bury all fuel deeply underground.

The third proposal calls for keeping fuel in storage for the time being, and to decide within 20 years whether to use it in a fast-breeder reactor or to dispose of it for good.

The committee plans to pick one of the measures by the middle of this year, after determining Japan's reliance on nuclear energy in the future.