Spent nuclear fuel leaves Tokaimura for Rokkasho

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

Spent nuclear fuel leaves Tokaimura for Rokkasho

TOKAIMURA, Japan, Dec. 16 (Kyodo) - A cargo ship carrying 11 
tons of spent nuclear fuel left Tokaimura, Ibaraki Prefecture, on 
Saturday morning for the village of Rokkasho in Aomori Prefecture, 
marking Japan's first transport of such fuel after villagers agreed to 
its reprocessing. 

The 4,913-ton Rokuei Maru, transporting the fuel from the Tokai No. 
2 reactor run by Japan Atomic Power Co. in Tokaimura, is 
scheduled to arrive Tuesday in Rokkasho, sources close to the 
transport operation said. 

A reprocessing plant in Rokkasho is under construction and its 
operator, Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. (JNFL), which is mainly 
sponsored by Japan's leading power companies, plans to begin the 
operation in July 2005. 

In 1998 and 1999, Rokkasho accepted a total of 32 tons of spent 
fuel from three nuclear reactors, but the village office, neighboring 
six municipalities and the Aomori prefectural government stopped 
short of officially agreeing with the plan that such fuel will be 
processed. 

The three reactors were the Fukushima No. 2 plant operated by 
Tokyo Electric Power Co. in Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern 
Japan, the Ikata plant of Shikoku Electric Power Co. in Ehime 
Prefecture, western Japan, and the Sendai plant of Kyushu Electric 
Power Co. in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan. 

The Rokuei Maru, which left a port of the seaside plant in 
Tokaimura, will pick up 13 tons of similar fuel at the Fukushima 
plant Sunday, the sources said. 

The Aomori prefectural government and the Rokkasho village office 
told the JNFL in October that they agreed that the fuel will be 
brought to Rokkasho for reprocessing in the future. 

The six municipalities near Rokkasho -- Misawa, Noheji, 
Yokohama, Kamikita, Tohoku and Higashidori -- told the operator in 
November they would abide by the October agreement. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Personal Website: http://sandyfl.nukeworker.net
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