N-Fuel Reprocessing Plant in Northeastern Japan Shown to Press

The completion of the plant to reprocess spent fuel from nuclear power stations has been postponed numerous times.

A public relations official at Japan Nuclear Fuel said that the company is now confident to a certain degree about the completion of the plant in fiscal 2026.

Japanese power companies have been forced to store spent fuel within the premises of their nuclear power plants due to a delay of more than 25 years in the construction of the reprocessing plant.

The facility is for extracting uranium and plutonium that can be reused from spent nuclear fuel. It was supposed to play a central role in the nuclear fuel cycle, which the government regards as the pivot of its energy policy.

 After construction began in 1993, the plant was originally scheduled to be completed in 1997.

But the completion has been postponed as many as 27 times, and a safety review by the Nuclear Regulation Authority is still ongoing.

Based on the expected completion of the reprocessing plant in fiscal 2026, Kansai Electric Power Co. reviewed its earlier policy regarding shipments of spent fuel from its nuclear plants in Fukui Prefecture, central Japan, and submitted a new road map to the Fukui prefectural government in February this year.

The following month, Fukui Governor Tatsuji Sugimoto met with Kansai Electric President Nozomu Mori and gave the prefecture's green light to the new schedule, making it possible for the company to continue operating three nuclear reactors that are more than 40 years old as a result.

The three are the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at the Takahama nuclear plant and the No. 3 reactor at the Mihama plant.

The reprocessing plant's completion in fiscal 2026, as planned, is indispensable for the continued operations of the three Kansai Electric reactors.

However, many are concerned about the possibility of further delays.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]