Japanese utilities possessed 27.8 tons of plutonium at end of 2009+

TOKYO, March 15 Kyodo -
The amount of plutonium possessed by Japanese utility companies totaled 27.8
tons -- 3.7 tons in Japan and 24.1 tons abroad -- as of the end of 2009, up 0.4
ton from a year before, the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan
said Monday.
Meanwhile, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency said the amount of plutonium it holds
is forecast to total 3.1 tons on March 31, compared with 3.6 tons a year
earlier, after 0.5 ton was used for the Monju fast-breeder reactor in Tsuruga,
Fukui Prefecture, which is expected to resume operations later this month after
a suspension caused by a 1995 sodium coolant leak.
An additional 0.2 ton will be loaded to the Monju reactor during fiscal 2010
starting next month, according to the agency.
The utility federation said 0.8 ton of plutonium was extracted from spent
nuclear fuel at a reprocessing plant in the village of Rokkasho, Aomori
Prefecture, during the past year, while 0.5 ton was used for plutonium-uranium
mixed oxide fuel for ''pluthermal'' power generation at Kyushu Electric Power
Co.'s Genkai nuclear power plant in Saga Prefecture.
Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. is planning to restart the reprocessing plant, which
has been suspended over mechanical glitches during its test run, in October and
the federation estimates an additional 0.5 ton of plutonium will be extracted
from the facility by the end of fiscal 2010.
More pluthermal power generation by Japanese utility companies are expected to
begin at 16 to 18 nuclear reactors by fiscal 2015. They will use plutonium
extracted by British and French business partners in the same time frame before
domestically reprocessed plutonium becomes available.
During fiscal 2010, the atomic energy agency is scheduled to reprocess 5 tons
of spent nuclear fuel at a plant in Tokai village, Ibaraki Prefecture, for
extracting 0.01 ton of plutonium.
==Kyodo
2010-03-15 23:11:00


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