Subject: [cwj 155] Japan deals fresh blow to nuclear fuel plant
From: Corporate Watch in Japanese <cwj@corpwatch.org>
Date: Mon, 04 Jun 2001 15:03:41 -0700
Seq: 155

Japan deals fresh blow to nuclear fuel plant
Financial Times

By Matthew Jones in London and Ken Hijino in Tokyo
Published: June 1 2001 19:29GMT | Last Updated: June 3 2001 19:50GMT

Plans to open a =A3460m ($653m) plant to manufacture
controversial recycled nuclear fuel in north-west England
suffered another blow on Friday after Japan's largest
electricity utility agreed to postpone the loading of
recycled nuclear fuel at its plant in northern Japan.=20

The Sellafield plant, owned by British Nuclear Fuels, the
UK atomic services group, was largely completed five
years ago but will not receive clearance from the British
government to start operations until its economic case has been proven.
Although
some 40 per cent of its capacity has been contracted or reserved by
customers in
Europe, its most important client is Japan.=20

The decision by Tokyo Electric Power Company, made after a meeting with=
 local
government officials, follows a referendum in the village of Kariwa last
week in
which more than half of the population, which depends heavily on the power
plant
for jobs, voted against the use of controversial mixed oxide fuel, known as
Mox.=20

Public opinion in Japan has hardened against the use of Mox, which combines
plutonium recycled from spent fuel with uranium, since BNFL admitted in
September 1999 to falsifying quality control records for Mox shipped to=
 Kansai
Electric Power Company.=20

Greenpeace, the environmental presure group, said Tepco's decision was a
further step towards ending the use of the fuel and preventing BNFL's plant
from
being opened.=20

"There is a genuine sense now that Mox use is way off in Japan and that
there are
no prospects for future Mox reactors," it said.=20

A report commissioned by Greenpeace and submitted to the British government
this month as part of a public consultation process warned that the
economics of
the UK plant had worsened because of developments in Japan and an estimated
30 per cent increase in costs.=20

BNFL said it was following progress in Japan closely and was still hopeful=
 of
securing contracts.=20

"This referendum was not legally binding but its interpretation is a matter
for local
and national government in Japan," said an official.=20

Ikuo Hirayama, governor of Niigata prefecture, on Friday called on Tepco to
delay
the use of Mox after earlier meeting with the mayors of Kariwa and=
 Kashiwazaki
City.=20

Nobuya Minami, Tepco's president, said the group would respect the request.
"The time has come for us to pause," he said. "The opposition [to Mox] is
also a
criticism of Tepco's everyday activities."=20

He added, however, that the company should strive to improve residents'
understanding and win their support in order to begin the Mox fuel
programme in
Japan as soon as possible.=20

The Mox at Tepco's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant is supplied by Cogema, BNFL's
French competitor, but locals and green groups claim that all Mox fuel
presents an
unacceptable risk.

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