Japan plans nuclear power expansion
burning mixed oxide fuel, made by mixing uranium with plutonium from spent fuel. In February, the Japanese Nuclear Safety Commission gave its approval for a restart of the Monju fast-breeder test reactor in Tsuruga, which will use some of the neutrons generated during the fission process to turn non-fissile uranium isotopes into plutonium that can be extracted from the spent fuel (“Operator of Shut-down Monju Fast Reactor Seeks Resumption of Operations,” 24 February 2010 HSNW).
There are also plans to squeeze extra energy from the country’s existing reactors, some of which are around forty years old. At a 19 March meeting of the U.S.–Japan Nuclear Energy Steering Committee in Washington, D.C., the partners agreed to collaborate on studies aimed at extending the life of old reactors.
The Japanese government will face a struggle to secure public acceptance of its nuclear ambitions, which are open for public comment until 7 April. Confidence in nuclear power was shaken in 2007 when a magnitude-6.8 earthquake caused a shutdown of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata after radioactive cooling water leaked into the sea (“Damaged Japanese Nuclear Plant Found to Sit on Fault Line,” 19 July 2007 HSNW).
Fresh objections are being raised about Monju. After decades of experimentation, most countries with significant nuclear capabilities have given up on fast-breeder technology, mostly because of weapons proliferation concerns. Monju itself has been closed since 1995 when leaking coolant damaged the plant, and a cover-up attempt damaged the plant’s reputation.
Safety and earthquake-resistance tests completed in February, and the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, which runs Monju, now only needs the local Fukui government to sign on.
On 11 March, however, twenty-nine scientists opposed to restarting Monju released a letter on the Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center website claiming that checks of key pipes have been inadequate and that the current reactor set-up does not serve as a useful prototype for future fast-breeder reactors. The group argues that because Monju’s construction costs were five times greater than a conventional reactor, a full-scale plant would have to be very different from the Monju prototype to be commercially viable.
Japan’s situation contrasts with that of its neighbor, China, where more than twenty reactors are under construction and face little public opposition. China aims to reach at least 70 gigawatts of nuclear power by 2020.
Cyranoski quotes Takuyuki Kawauchi of the industry ministry’s nuclear-energy policy division to say that for Japan, eight new reactors over the next decade will be a struggle. “We can’t just start putting reactors wherever we want,” he says. “We have to get the understanding of the local residents, and that takes time.”
