Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant: Urgent Appeal

23 March 2006

An urgent appeal not to begin active testing of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant was released on 23 March 2006 by 27 Japanese opinion leaders from all walks of life. This page includes background notes and extracts from the appeal which have been translated into English. Quotes from some of the signatories and other related links are at the bottom of the page.

Unfortunately, true to form, Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. and the relevant government authorities ignored this appeal and started active testing on March 31st, just in time to be eligible for the windfall payments due for the 2005 fiscal year. (The Japanese fiscal year ends on March 31st.)

---

Background Notes

The "nuclear fuel cycle" logic of the Japanese government and the electric power companies goes like this.

• Reprocess all the spent nuclear fuel produced by Japan's nuclear reactors
• Extract the plutonium and 'breed' more plutonium by burning it in fast breeder reactors
• Use this as a 'quasi-national' energy resource

To this end, a huge reprocessing plant was built in Rokkasho Village, Aomori Prefecture. Groups and individuals in Aomori and throughout the whole of Japan have been campaigning against this plant ever since 1985, when Aomori Prefecture agreed to allow it to be constructed. "Active testing" of the plant is the last stage before full-scale operations.

If the Rokkasho reprocessing ever operates at full capacity, it will reprocess 800 tons of spent fuel and extract about 8 tons of plutonium per year. In the course of regular operations, when spent fuel assemblies are cut up (shearing), radioactive gases are released from the chimney stack. These include radioactive isotopes of krypton, xenon, iodine, cesium, etc.. Later in the process, other radioactive materials are released into the sea as liquid waste. These include tritium, carbon-14, iodine-129, plutonium, etc.. In one year over 33 x 10¹⁶ Bq of radioactivity will be released into the environment. Compare this to 67 x 10¹² Bq released each year from Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, the world's largest nuclear power plant. It is said that a reprocessing plant releases as much radioactivity in one day as a nuclear reactor releases in one year.

In addition, there are international concerns that the operation of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant will accelerate trends towards nuclear proliferation. The process used at Rokkasho will produce a 1:1 mixed oxide of plutonium and uranium. The Japanese government says that it is difficult to produce nuclear weapons from this. However, this is not true. Scientists in the US, and also the International Atomic Energy Agency, recognize that this material can readily be transformed into nuclear weapons.

As a result of an accident in 1995 at Japan's prototype fast breeder reactor, Monju, the end use for plutonium disappeared. The so-called "pluthermal" plan emerged in 1997 as a response to this. (This plan involves burning plutonium in light water reactors. Japan has 55 operating light water reactors, 32 BWR and 23 PWR.) However, this plan has not been implemented either. Consequently, the plutonium extracted from spent fuel has simply accumulated.

Under these circumstances, there is no logic in beginning reprocessing at the Rokkasho reprocessing plant. It is clear that the environment will be contaminated and international nuclear tensions will be exacerbated.

Yukio Yamaguchi (CNIC Co-Director)

---

Extracts from Urgent Appeal Concerning
the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant

Active tests could begin any time now at the Rokkasho reprocessing plant in Aomori Prefecture. Active tests are the last stage in the commissioning of the plant...
Once the plant begins operations, it is certain that the surrounding environment will be severely polluted. Operation of the plant is also incompatible with nuclear disarmament. Rather, it encourages nuclear proliferation.

Great changes are about to occur, both from an environmental perspective and also from an international relations perspective. ...We are releasing this urgent appeal in the hope that drawing attention to the importance of this problem will encourage a broad debate amongst you the citizens.

1. Plants for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel are structured in such a way that, in the course of regular operations, the large-scale release of radioactivity into the atmosphere and into the sea is unavoidable...
The quantity of radioactive isotopes that are expected to be released, such as krypton, tritium, carbon and iodine, is publicly available, but this is just a benchmark derived from calculations. There is no guarantee that this benchmark will be achieved. Even if it is achieved, the atmosphere, the soil and the sea will be polluted and the radioactive contamination of agricultural products and seafood will continue for many years. Irreversible detrimental effects to present and future generations and to the ecosystem will be unavoidable.

2. Unlike the reprocessing plants in France and the UK, the plutonium extracted at the Rokkasho reprocessing plant will be mixed in a 1:1 ratio with uranium. The government and the company have repeated the mantra that this is not suitable material for nuclear weapons, or that it is difficult to turn it into nuclear weapons material.
However, the IAEA defines MOX as a "special fissionable material" and a "direct use material". It can be converted to "the metallic components of a nuclear explosive device" in the order of 1-3 weeks...The Rokkasho reprocessing plant is not resistant to nuclear proliferation.
This issue was discussed at the NPT Review Conference held last May in New York. There is great concern that the operation of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant will be used as a justification for reprocessing by other countries and that consequently it will serve to encourage nuclear proliferation...
Furthermore, it is possible that a large earthquake hitting the reprocessing plant could cause a far greater radiological disaster than if the same earthquake struck a nuclear power plant.

We demand that Aomori Prefecture and the central government adopt a very cautious attitude towards the commencement of active tests at the Rokkasho reprocessing plant and we hope for a broad and serious debate among you the citizens.

Return to CNIC News Service