Red light to plutonium

27 February 2001

The Governor of Fukushima Prefecture, Mr Sato, in a Prefectural Parliament session yesterday (26 Feb), articulately stated that his province would not allow MOX utilization to start. TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company)'s plutonium utilization programs were scheduled to start in April in the uranium reactors in Fukushima, which was to be the first realization of the Japanese government's controversial project of thermal use of plutonium fuel.

The Governor's shock announcement follows the TEPCO's mothballing policy announced three weeks ago (see MagpieNews #010208). Governor Sato claims that most Fukushima people are doubtful about the central Government's energy policy in general, and the nuclear fuel cycle policy in particular, reiterating that a total critical review is inevitable.

The Governor of Niigata Prefecture, another province where TEPCO's MOX program is scheduled to start later this year, told the press that Niigata would allow MOX burning only after it is experimented in Fukushima first, not vice versa.

KEPCO (Kansai Electric Power Company)'s MOX program in Fukui reactors is suspended due to the BNFL safety data scandal, and will not start up before 2002 at the earliest, if ever.

sources: NHK TV news 25&26 Feb, Asahi 27 Feb, Mainichi 27 Feb, Nikkei 27 Feb.

MagpieComment: Japan's plutonium program, already full of criticism and scandal, has now lost its last, weak "justification". All reprocessing (i.e. plutonium separation) and transport of reprocessed material (MOX fuel and high-level radwaste) must be stopped immediately.