Kansai Electric Receives MOX Fuel for First Time in 3 Yrs

Fukui, Nov. 17 (Jiji Press)–Kansai Electric Power Co. said Monday that it has received 32 assemblies of plutonium-uranium mixed oxide, or MOX, fuel produced in France. A cargo ship carrying MOX fuel arrived at a port at the company’s Takahama nuclear power plant in the central Japan prefecture of Fukui around 4:30 a.m. on the day. This marked the seventh shipment of MOX fuel to the plant from overseas and the first in about three years. The transported fuel will be used at the plant’s No. 3 and No. 4 reactors. MOX fuel is produced by mixing uranium with plutonium extracted from reprocessed spent nuclear fuel. A group company of major French nuclear fuel business Orano produced the MOX fuel delivered to the Takahama plant. The cargo ship departed from the port of Cherbourg in northwestern France in September. Producing electricity using MOX fuel at nuclear power plants is known as pluthermal power generation. It is a key component of the nuclear fuel cycle promoted by the Japanese government to encourage the reuse of spent nuclear fuel. While the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan aims to introduce pluthermal power generation at 12 or more reactors in the country by fiscal 2030, only four reactors, including the Takahama No. 3 and No. 4 reactors, currently use the method. As of the end of October, Kansai Electric was using 24 MOX fuel assemblies and owned 60 spent fuel assemblies. The company held a total of some 11.3 tons of plutonium in Japan and abroad as of the end of 2024. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]