Recycled nuclear fuel arrives in Japan for 1st pluthermal generation

TOKYO, May 18 Kyodo -
(EDS: ADDING INFO ON PROTESTS IN 4TH GRAF)
Recycled nuclear fuel carried from France by two cargo ships arrived Monday at
a nuclear power plant in Shizuoka Prefecture for the planned start of
plutonium-thermal power generation in the fall.
Cylindrical containers containing plutonium-uranium mixed oxide, or MOX fuel,
were brought into Chubu Electric Power Co.'s Hamaoka nuclear power plant in the
city of Omaezaki by trailers after being transferred from one of the two armed
ships that entered Omaezaki port in the morning.
The ships will also deliver the fuel to Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s Genkai
nuclear power plant in Saga Prefecture and Shikoku Electric Power Co.'s Ikata
plant in Ehime Prefecture.
Near the Hamaoka plant, hundreds of policemen and security officers lined the
streets, where dozens of anti-nuclear power protesters chanted their opposition
to the transportation of the ''dangerous MOX fuel'' while holding banners
criticizing plutonium-thermal power generation.
The fuel was manufactured in France for the three utility firms, which also
placed an order for it with Britain, and the fuel was carried in special
containers on double-hulled ships that would not sink easily in the event of an
accident.
The two ships -- the Pacific Pintail and the Pacific Heron -- left the northern
French port of Cherbourg in early March and reached Japan after sailing through
the southwestern Pacific via the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.
Kyushu Electric plans to introduce MOX fuel into the No. 3 reactor at the
Genkai plant at the time of the next regular inspection in August and to start
pluthermal power generation in the fall, becoming the first utility company in
Japan to engage in such electricity production.
Meanwhile, some critics argue that plutonium and MOX fuel, which can be
diverted to the manufacture of nuclear weapons, should not be utilized in power
generation and that transportation of the nuclear fuel is risky.
''We call on the Japanese government and electric utilities to terminate this
and future MOX fuel shipments and cease from placing en route countries at
risk,'' Hideyuki Ban, secretary general of the Citizens' Nuclear Information
Center, Aileen Smith, executive director of Green Action, and Hoshikawa Jun,
executive director of Greenpeace Japan, said in a joint statement.
''Facing adamant local citizen opposition, the government's response was not to
terminate the program but to implement coercive measures by jacking up
subsidies, thus making it nearly impossible for local authorities to refuse the
program,'' they said.
Eni Faleomavaega, a member of the U.S. Congress from the Territory of American
Samoa, also criticized the shipment earlier, claiming the latest and largest
shipment so far poses dangers to countries en route.
''Moreover, with the increasing threat of piracy, the transported plutonium MOX
fuel could easily fall in the hands of terrorists,'' Faleomavaega added.
Chubu Electric and Shikoku Electric are expected to commence pluthermal power
generation next year.
It is the third time that Japan has transported MOX fuel from Europe following
shipments in 1999 and 2001. The previous shipments for Tokyo Electric Power Co.
and Kansai Electric Power Co. were not used due partly to the falsification of
data related to the transportation of the fuel.
Japan's electric power industry plans to start pluthermal power generation at
16 to 18 nuclear power plants by fiscal 2010 ending April 2011.
If Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd.'s spent fuel reprocessing plant in the village of
Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, begins operating on a full-fledged basis,
plutonium extracted at the plant will be also used for pluthermal power
generation.
==Kyodo