News that the central government is finalizing plans to decommission the Monju
fast-breeder reactor in Fukui Prefecture has sparked anger and fear among local politicians about what will happen to their economy, and could make Fukui's cooperation in restarting other reactors more complicated.
The
fast-breeder reactor took 20 years to build and 20 years so far to decommission - with the most dangerous parts taking another 20 years.
Processing waste with a
fast-breeder reactor is said to accelerate the decay of radioactive material and slash its volume, the Nikkei said.
Data transmission from the Monju prototype
fast-breeder reactor in central Japan has been suspended since early Monday, the Nuclear Regulation Authority said.
TOKYO - The science ministry plans to effectively freeze research related to the trouble-prone Monju prototype
fast-breeder reactor in Fukui Prefecture by cutting 70 to 80 percent of its current 10 billion yen budget for the next fiscal year from April, ministry sources said Monday.
According to experts the
fast-breeder reactor, being built by Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Ltd (Bhavini), is one of the key projects of India's three-stage nuclear power programme.
FOURTEEN years and five months after it was shut down in the wake of an accident, Japan's Monju
fast-breeder reactor resumed operations today (Thursday May 6).
The plutonium was originally intended to power the Kalkar
fast-breeder reactor in northern Germany, but the facility was never brought into service and the fuel was dispatched at the beginning of the nineties to the temporary storage centre at Dounreay in Scotland.
Framatome has announced that it has secured two contracts worth a total of Euro 6 million from the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) for the dismantling of the experimental
fast-breeder reactor at Dounreay in the far North of Scotland.
As the science chief, Nakagawa also dealt with the aftermath of the 1995 sodium leak at the prototype
fast-breeder reactor Monju in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast, which led to its shutdown.
Part of the Monju prototype
fast-breeder reactor halted last weekend due to human error, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency said late Friday on the heels of an effective ban on restarting the reactor due to the operator's deteriorating safety culture.