Interim Spent N-Fuel Storage Starts in Northeastern Japan

Mutsu, Aomori Pref., Sept. 26 (Jiji Press)--An interim storage facility in the city of Mutsu in Aomori Prefecture, northeastern Japan, received the first batch of spent nuclear fuel Thursday, effectively starting the process to store spent fuel for up to 50 years before it is reprocessed.

This is the first spent fuel storage outside the premises of a nuclear power plant in the country.

A cask containing 69 assemblies of fuel used at the No. 4 reactor of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in the central prefecture of Niigata arrived at a port in Mutsu on Thursday morning and was transferred to a trailer.

Its delivery to the storage facility was completed at 4:25 p.m., according to TEPCO and Recyclable-Fuel Storage Co., or RFS, the operator of the facility.

Mutsu Mayor Tomoya Yamamoto told reporters that it has been confirmed that there will be no impact on the surrounding environment.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]