Spent fuel management in Japan

Japan has scarce energy resources and depends on foreign resources for 84% of its energy needs. Therefore, Japan has made efforts to utilize nuclear power as a key energy sources since the mid-1950's. Today, the nuclear energy produced from 43 nuclear power plants is responsible for about 30% of Japan's total electricity supply. The cumulative amount of spent fuel generated as of March 1992 was about 8,900 MgU. Japan's policy of spent fuel management is to reprocess spent fuel and recycle recovered plutonium and uranium as nuclear reactor fuel. The Tokai reprocessing plant continues stable operation keeping the annual treatment capacity of around 90 MgU. A commercial reprocessing plant is under construction at Rokkasho, northern part of Japan. The Atomic Energy Commission published a report that defines the long range policy to implement nuclear fuel recycling through around the year 2010. Although FBR is the principal reactor to use plutonium, LWR will be a major source for some time and the recycling of the fuel in LWRs will be promoted. (author). 3 figs