The Japanese government is considering reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods from Korea, Vietnam and other Asian countries, the Tokyo Shimbun reported Sunday. Japan is the only country in the world that has no nuclear weapons but the facilities to reprocess spent nuclear fuel rods capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium.
An advisory council to the Democratic Party of Japan in a report last May said reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods would “strengthen” Japan’s diplomacy, security and the country’s economy as well as “contribute to the peaceful use of atomic energy.”
The report suggests using the Rokashomura nuclear reprocessing plant in Aomori Prefecture, which will become obsolete if Japan scraps all its own nuclear power plants in the 2030s.
Japan’s Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi recently said that no concrete decision has been made to scrap the country’s reprocessing facilities entirely. The Rokashomura facility reprocesses spent nuclear fuel from all nuclear plants in Japan.
Continue reading at Japan Could Reprocess Nuclear Fuel from Korea
