Japan's national policy for the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle

Japan has made remarkable progress in the development of nuclear power generation through LWRs, as well as in the implementation of nuclear fuel cycle programmes. On the basis of this progress, Japan has now entered into the stage of promoting nuclear power generation as the main source of electricity and establishing a 'self-closed' nuclear fuel cycle utilizing plutonium. The policy for the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle is as follows. (1) Utilization of the uranium and plutonium recovered from the reprocessed spent fuel. This will greatly contribute towards saving uranium resources and reducing Japan's dependence on foreign energy resources. (2) Promotion of plutonium utilization in LWRs and ATRs. This will form the basis for plutonium utilization in FBRs, which are expected to become the leading nuclear power reactors in place of LWRs in the future. (3) Safe and appropriate treatment and disposal of radioactive waste using suitable methods that correspond to the nature of the nuclides. (author). 1 fig