Spent nuclear fuel taken aboard ship in Fukushima Pref.

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

Spent nuclear fuel taken aboard ship in Fukushima Pref.

TOMIOKA, Japan, Dec. 17 (Kyodo) - About 13 tons of spent 
nuclear fuel were taken aboard a ship in Fukushima Prefecture on 
Sunday to be carried to Aomori Prefecture to be reprocessed in the 
first shipment of its kind in Japan. 

The 4,913-ton Rokuei Maru picked up the spent nuclear fuel stored 
in a reactor at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 2 plant. 

The ship, which is already carrying 11 tons of spent nuclear fuel 
from the Tokai No. 2 reactor in Tokaimura, Ibaraki Prefecture -- run 
by Japan Atomic Power Co. -- is to carry the total of 24 tons of 
spent nuclear fuel to the village of Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, 
where the cargo will be off-loaded to await reprocessing. 

The ship will leave Fukushima Prefecture on Monday, arriving in the 
village on Tuesday, officials said. 

A reprocessing plant in Rokkasho is under construction and its 
operator, Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. (JNFL), sponsored mainly by 
leading Japanese power utilities, plans to start treating the cargo in 
July 2005. 

Including the current shipment, the Fukushima plant plans to send 
33 tons of spent nuclear fuel to Rokkasho by the end of March. 

In 1998 and 1999, Rokkasho accepted 32 tons of spent fuel from 
three nuclear reactors for local temporary storage, but the village 
hall, six neighboring municipalities and the Aomori prefectural 
government did not officially agree to have the fuel reprocessed. 

The Aomori prefectural government and the village hall told JNFL in 
October that they had agreed that fuel could be brought to the 
village for reprocessing in the future. 

The six municipalities -- Misawa, Noheji, Yokohama, Kamikita, 
Tohoku and Higashidori -- told the operator in November they would 
also abide by the October agreement. 
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Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	
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Personal Website: http://sandyfl.nukeworker.net
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