Gov't gives green light to TEPCO's MOX fuel

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Gov't gives green light to TEPCO's MOX fuel

TOKYO, Aug. 10 (Kyodo) - The Natural Resources and Energy Agency on 
Thursday issued a certificate to Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) 
stating that plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel imported by the 
company has passed the agency's safety examinations. 

TEPCO imported the MOX fuel, made by the Belgian nuclear fuel maker 
Belgonucleaire, last September for use at its nuclear power plant in 
Fukushima Prefecture in northeastern Japan. 

The agency's safety checks on the fuel began immediately, but were 
suspended when a scandal involving another fuel maker, British 
Nuclear Fuels PLC (BNFL), surfaced the same month. 

BNFL falsified quality assurance data on MOX fuel shipped to a Kansai 
Electric Power Co. nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture on the Sea of 
Japan coast. The Japanese and British governments agreed in July on 
having the fuel returned to Britain. 

The agency resumed the safety checks on the fuel consignment for the 
TEPCO power plant Aug. 1, after revising the enforcement regulations 
of the Electric Business Law in July to require power companies to 
submit quality assurance documents on imported nuclear fuel. 

A TEPCO spokesman said that the passing of the governmental safety 
tests is ''a step forward toward implementing our 'pluthermal' 
nuclear power program.'' 

''We hope we can make steady progress toward the implementation while 
trying to obtain the understanding and cooperation of the local 
governments,'' the spokesman said. 

The pluthermal process is a form of nuclear power generation by which 
the plutonium extracted from spent nuclear fuel is combined with 
uranium oxide to create mixed oxide (MOX) fuel pellets to be burned 
in light-water reactors. 

On Wednesday, civic groups in Tokyo and Fukushima filed a request 
with the Fukushima District Court asking for a temporary injunction 
against the use of MOX fuel at the TEPCO plant. 

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Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	
Director, Technical				Extension 2306 				     	
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