Rokkasho Produces First MOX Powder
CNIC Media Release, 17 November 2006
Call to Abandon Reprocessing as First Plutonium-Uranium Mixed Oxide (MOX) Powder Produced at Rokkasho
On November 16th Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd (JNFL) announced that plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) powder had been produced at its Rokkasho reprocessing plant for the first time. In response to JNFL's announcement, Citizens' Nuclear Information Center demands that Japan's Rokkasho reprocessing program be abandoned.
Plutonium was originally produced for use in nuclear weapons, but during the 1960s and 70s various countries developed plans to use it commercially. The Japanese government and the Federation of Electric Power Companies proposed that Japan should develop plutonium as a future source of energy, on the grounds that Japan lacked natural resources of its own. Spent nuclear fuel was sent to France and the UK to be reprocessed, while reprocessing was also developed in Japan at the Tokai reprocessing facility. The plutonium extracted was to be used in fast breeder reactors. However, most countries with nuclear energy programs abandoned their fast breeder and reprocessing programs because of cost and technical problems. Japan too was unable to escape these problems and its plutonium use program fell into disarray.
Japan's 1994 Long Term Nuclear Plan and the 2005 Framework for Nuclear Energy Policy were unable to ignore the huge plutonium surplus that Japan had accumulated. As a stopgap measure, it was decided that plutonium (MOX fuel) would be used in light water reactors. (This is referred to as the pluthermal program.) However, this program has also failed to proceed as planned, due to technical, economic and social problems. If reprocessing goes ahead as planned at Rokkasho, Japan's plutonium stockpile will continue to grow and these contradictions will become even more glaring.
Japan's plutonium stockpile poses a continuing radiation and proliferation threat to future generations. Furthermore, investing large amounts of public and private money into the plutonium program diverts scarce funds from sustainable alternatives. It is an obstacle to the implementation of effective energy policies and is likely to create a great energy policy vacuum in future. As a result, energy problems and environmental problems will become more intractable.
It is impossible to eliminate the risk that Japan's huge plutonium stockpile could one day be diverted to nuclear weapons. Even if Japan does not produce nuclear weapons itself, its plutonium program stimulates other countries to develop plutonium programs of their own, making the world an even less safe place than it is now. For the sake of world peace, Japan should abandon reprocessing.
If full-scale operations commence at the Rokkasho reprocessing plant, it will separate as much as 8 tons of plutonium per year. The government wants its plutonium use program to be one of the pillars of Japan's energy policy. However, we are deeply concerned about the incalculable damage that Japan's plutonium use program will do to the world. If Japan is to play a constructive role for world peace and environmental protection, it must first abandon its program of reprocessing spent nuclear fuel.
