Development of MOX fuel technology

The study and development of the fabrication of Uranium Plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel has been done since 1965 at PNC's Plutonium Fuel Development Facility (PFDF), Plutonium Fuel Fabrication Facility (PFFF) started operation in 1952 and has the fabrication line for ATR and FBR fuel as only MOX fuel fabrication facility available in Japan. It supplies fuels necessary for operation of ''Fugen'' and ''Joyo''. About 86 tons of MOX fuel have been fabricated by June 30, 1987. The construction of Plutonium Fuel Production Facility (PFPF) was completed at the end of September 1984. Uranium run and Plutonium run for ''Monju'' fuel fabrication will be started in 1987 and 1988. PFPF uses remote control and automatic operation technologies. Although it uses a direct maintenance system, it does not normally need personnel to approach nuclear materials for fabrication of fuels. These technologies are Japan's unique one achieved through various test at PFPF. (author)