Serving nuclear energy since 1956
The prefecture will sign the agreement with the Mutsu city government and Recyclable-Fuel Storage Co (RFS), the operator of the facility, in a rite on August 9. A protection agreement is required for an interim spent nuclear fuel storage facility to become operational.
The facility, the first of its kind in Japan, will use spent fuel from nuclear plants operated through Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (Tepco) and Japan Atomic Power Co (JAPC) for up to 50 years pending reprocessing.
The conclusion of the protection agreement will be the last mandatory procedure before RFS can begin receiving nuclear fuel. The protection agreement will outline the rights of prefectural and municipal governments, as well as the company’s tasks to ensure the protection of local citizens and the environment. RFS is a subsidiary of Tepco and JAPC.
Mutsu will begin receiving the waste in March 2025. RFS plans to deposit its first drum with 12 tons of spent fuel from Tepco’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture. In two years, it will include 96 tons of spent fuel in 8 containers. .
The prefectural and municipal governments plan to generate more than 300 million yen ($1. 9 million) by March 2029, through taxes of 620 yen per kilogram of stored material. RFS’s opposition to the tax, arguing that it could make the task unprofitable. , has caused delays. Mutsu had come forward to host the facility in 2003, when the national government provided money for the task.
Although the security agreement limits the use of the Mutsu facility’s garage to 50 years, citizens are concerned that its useful life will be extended and that the site will simply be a permanent disposal site for radioactive waste, since there is no transparent national policy on spent fuel management. , Asahi Shimbun. reported.
Japan’s official policy is to reprocess and recycle spent fuel. However, the structure of the fuel reprocessing plant in Rokkasho, Aomori prefecture, has suffered repeated delays. First, the plant was planned to open in 1997.
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