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Tokaimura nuclear fuel reprocessing plant reopens
Tokaimura nuclear fuel reprocessing plant reopens
MITO, Japan, Nov. 20 (Kyodo) - A nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in
Tokaimura, Ibaraki Prefecture, that was closed after a fire and
explosion in March 1997 resumed operations Monday.
Workers at the plant of the state-run Japan Nuclear Cycle Development
Institute, about 120 kilometers northeast of Tokyo, began
reprocessing uranium solution taken from a fuel plant of JCO Co.,
also in Tokaimura, officials of the institute said.
Japan's worst nuclear accident occurred Sept. 30 last year at the JCO
plant, killing two JCO employees and exposing at least 438 people to
higher-than-normal levels of radiation.
The plant will start Nov. 27 reprocessing spent nuclear fuel from the
advanced thermal reactor ''Fugen'' in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, and
the reprocessing is expected to be completed by Dec. 19, the
officials said.
The Tokaimura facility was at the center of Japan's nuclear
reprocessing operations until the March 1997 accident, which exposed
37 workers to high levels of radiation.
The government's Nuclear Safety Commission, the Science and
Technology Agency, and the Ibaraki nuclear safety commission had
already cleared the Tokaimura fuel reprocessing plant to resume
operations. However, permission was revoked following the accident at
the JCO plant, which prompted authorities to reexamine safety
procedures.
The Ibaraki prefectural and Tokaimura village governments gave the
green light Nov. 10 after the plant confirmed the adoption of safety
measures requested by the village government.
However, a local civic group against nuclear plants in the area said
the group is opposing the resumption because authorities have not
made public the analytical results of the uranium solution in the JCO
plant and the reprocessing will destroy the evidence of the JCO
accident.
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