Mutsu, Aomori Pref., Sept. 18 (Jiji Press)–The mayor of Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, was informed on Friday that Kansai Electric Power Co. and Tohoku Electric Power Co. are interested in using an interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in the northeastern Japan city. Mayor Tomoya Yamamoto received the information at a meeting in Mutsu with Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. President Tomoaki Kobayakawa and Japan Atomic Power Co. President Mamoru Muramatsu. At present, the facility, run by a joint venture between TEPCO and Japan Atomic Power, is set to store spent nuclear fuel from the two companies’ reactors. Last December, TEPCO and Japan Atomic Power told the Aomori and Mutsu governments that the companies hoped to consider collaboration with other businesses to accept fuel from them as the two companies’ fuel alone was unlikely to be enough to reach the planned final storage amount of 5,000 tons. After Yamamoto expressed his approval last month, the two companies asked eight other power companies with nuclear power plants if they were interested in joining the project. At Friday’s meeting, the mayor said there is nothing to decide right away over the proposed collaboration. When deciding whether to approve the collaboration, he said he would check “readiness to take responsibility for the future involving the central and prefectural governments,” in addition to “understanding of citizens” and the “safety and storage period.” The current agreement among the two local governments and TEPCO and Japan Atomic Power stipulates that the facility store only fuel from the two companies. Aomori Governor Soichiro Miyashita has said that the possible collaboration was not expected. The completion of a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Rokkasho, also Aomori, to which the spent fuel will eventually be delivered, has been repeatedly postponed. The outlook remains unclear. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
