Tag Archives: Rokkasho

Rokkasho redux: Japan’s never-ending reprocessing saga via Bulletin of Atomic Scientists

Posted on 2024/01/04 by nfield

By Tatsujiro Suzuki | December 26, 2023 According to a recent Reuters report, Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd (JNFL) still hopes to finish construction of Japan’s long-delayed Rokkasho reprocessing plant in the first half of the 2024 fiscal year (i.e. during April-September 2024). The … Continue reading →

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Nuclear plant cooling system stops working for 8 hours via NHK World-Japan

Posted on 2022/07/05 by nfield

[…] Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited reported the problem at a plant compound in Rokkasho Village on Sunday. It says the glitch poses no threat to the environment. The operator says one of the tanks storing radioactive waste lost its cooling … Continue reading →

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Japan to resume accepting nuclear waste from UK via NHK World

Posted on 2020/11/09 by nfield

The operator of a storage facility in northern Japan is making arrangements with power companies to resume accepting shipments of highly radioactive nuclear waste from spent fuel reprocessed in Britain. NHK has learned that Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited has started … Continue reading →

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Questions emerge over need for Japanese nuclear reprocessing plant via NHK World-Japan

Posted on 2020/06/01 by nfield

On May 13, Japanese nuclear regulators announced that the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant had met new safety regulations, taking a crucial step toward becoming operational. The government has long touted the facility as crucial to the country’s nuclear energy policy, but … Continue reading →

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Japan Has Enough Nuclear Material to Build an Arsenal. Its Plan: Recycle via the New York Times

Posted on 2018/09/25 by nfield

    By Motoko Rich ROKKASHO, Japan — More than 30 years ago, when its economy seemed invincible and the Sony Walkman was ubiquitous, Japan decided to build a recycling plant to turn nuclear waste into nuclear fuel. It was supposed … Continue reading →

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Japan Nuclear Fuel skipped safety checks at Rokkasho plant for 14 years via Japan Times

Posted on 2017/10/12 by nfield

Nuclear regulators concluded Wednesday that Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. violated legally binding safety rules by failing to conduct necessary checks for over a decade at its uncompleted spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in the country’s northeast. The failure of checks … Continue reading →

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Japan commission supports nuclear power despite Fukushima　via Minneapolis Star Tribune

Posted on 2017/09/14 by nfield

By Mari Yamaguchi TOKYO — Japan’s nuclear policy-setting Atomic Energy Commission called Thursday for nuclear power to remain a key component of the country’s energy supply despite broad public support for a less nuclear-reliant society. The commission recommended in a … Continue reading →

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Future of Japan’s Monju plutonium breeder reactor under review　via International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM)

Posted on 2016/09/21 by norma field

Masafumi Takubo and Frank von Hippel On 29 August 2016, Mainichi Shimbun reported on an ongoing review by Japan’s Cabinet Secretariat of options for the future of Monju. According to Mainichi, the Secretariat estimates that it would cost ¥600 billion … Continue reading →

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Japan’s ¥2.9 trillion nuclear recycling quest coming up on three decades via The Japan Times

Posted on 2016/01/05 by norma field

JAN 5, 2016 It’s designed to recycle spent uranium from Japan’s nuclear power plants, consists of more than three dozen buildings spread over 740 hectares, costs almost ¥3 trillion and has been under construction for nearly three decades. The amount … Continue reading →

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Japan’s Plutonium Problem via The New York Times

Posted on 2015/08/17 by yukimiyamotodepaul

[…] For this, one can thank a powerful network of utility companies, conservative politicians and bureaucrats in Japan, who peddle the notion that plutonium constitutes a sort of thermodynamic elixir. A byproduct of burning uranium, plutonium itself can be processed … Continue reading →

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