Japan’s first interim spent fuel storage facility starts operations

Operations of Japan’s first interim spent nuclear fuel storage facility in Aomori Prefecture started Wednesday as the Nuclear Regulation Authority certified the facility’s safety.
The NRA issued the certificate after confirming that the operator, Recyclable-Fuel Storage, had undertaken proper safety management at the storage facility in the Aomori city of Mutsu since the first cask containing 69 assemblies of spent fuel with 12 tons of uranium arrived from the No. 4 reactor of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings’ Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture in September.
The facility is slated to accept spent fuel from Tepco and Japan Atomic Power, both investors in RFS, for up to 50 years. By March 2027, it is scheduled to take in a total of eight casks.
After the interim storage, the spent fuel is set to be transported to a reprocessing plant under construction in the Aomori village of Rokkasho.
However, it still uncertain when the plant’s construction will be completed given the fact that Japan Nuclear Fuel has repeatedly extended the construction period. It is now aiming to finish the work by March 2027.