Japan Nuclear Fuel Accepts Uranium for 1st Time in 11 Years

Rokkasho, Aomori Pref., Oct. 7 (Jiji Press)–Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. received natural uranium at its enrichment plant in the village of Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, northeastern Japan, for the first time in 11 years on Tuesday. The company resumed accepting natural uranium to meet the growing demand for enriched uranium used in nuclear power generation, in line with the restart of nuclear plants in Japan that were suspended following the March 2011 disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power station. Japan Nuclear Fuel resumed production at the enrichment plant in 2023 and has been using previously stored uranium. “We want to continue contributing to Japan’s energy security,” Masaaki Saijo, who heads the company’s enrichment operations, told reporters. The plant is Japan’s only uranium enrichment facility that uses centrifuges to enrich uranium. This time, the plant will accept a total of about 625 tons of uranium shipped from Canada, enough to operate about 2.5 nuclear power plants with a capacity of 1 million kilowatts for a year. Cylinders containing uranium, each about 3.8 meters long and 1.2 meters in diameter, were transported by truck from a nearby port, with the first one arriving at the plant at around 11:10 a.m. Workers checked for radiation leaks or damage after the cylinder was unloaded by a crane. The plant currently has a production capacity of 112.5 tons, with plans to expand its capacity to 150 tons by the end of 2025 and to 450 tons by fiscal 2028. The company aims to eventually increase the capacity to 1,500 tons, enough to operate 12 to 13 nuclear reactors annually. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]