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On May 14, DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada visited a nuclear fuel reprocessing facility in Rokkasho village, Aomori Prefecture, owned by Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. At this facility, spent nuclear fuel from all over Japan is processed, and uranium and plutonium extracted. The premises include a uranium enrichment plant, a low-level radioactive waste landfill, a MOX fuel manufacturing plant, and a high-level radioactive waste monitoring facility. The visit was organized due to the strong desire of Okada to confirm what measures are in place at the facility to cope in the event of an earthquake, with public confidence in nuclear power as a whole shaken by the accident at Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Upon Okada’s arrival at the facility, the mayor of Rokkasho village Kenji Furukawa expressed his appreciation to Okada for taking the time to visit. Then the President of Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd., Yoshihiko Kawai gave a briefing that comprised the following: (1) an outline of the business undertaken by Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd., (2) the impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake, (3) safety measures taken in emergencies, (4) the current state of the reprocessing plant, (5) forthcoming plans for completing construction of the reprocessing plant in October 2012. Following this, Okada inspected the building housing emergency power sources, a mobile generator, the reprocessing facility, facilities for receiving and storing spent nuclear fuel, and the high-level radioactive waste monitoring facility.
It was explained that the facilities for storing spent nuclear fuel at Rokkasho incorporate safety measures that have been developed to respond to a variety of situations, including power outages, failure of generators, tsunamis, and a total loss of power. Okada expressed his impression that “thorough measures are being taken.”
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