The Asahi Shimbun
A consortium of electric power companies that envisaged Japan operating on a network of nuclear reactors using pluthermal generation technology is having to drastically scale back that ambitious goal.
Years ago, pluthermal energy was viewed as a dream way for Japan to generate electricity with nuclear power plants using plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel.
The beauty of the technology is that MOX fuel is created by recycling plutonium processed out of spent nuclear fuel.
The first pluthermal plan compiled in 1997 set a goal of building 16 to 18 nuclear reactors using MOX fuel by fiscal 2010.
Currently, four reactors in Japan use the fuel.
Japan’s power companies consider opening up Aomari nuclear waste site to other utilities
The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan is considering a plan for member power suppliers that have nuclear power plants to jointly use a temporary storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in the city of Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, sources said Thursday.
The Mutsu facility is held by Recyclable-Fuel Storage Co., which is jointly owned by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. and Japan Atomic Power Co. Recyclable-Fuel Storage aims to start facility operations in fiscal 2021, which starts next April.
The federation is in talks with parties including Tepco on allowing power firms other than Tepco and Japan Atomic Power to use the temporary spent fuel storage facility if they pay fees, informed sources said.
Waste from nuclear fuel must be stored for more than a million years/
“Salt can be present in the ambient air and environment anywhere, not just near the ocean. We need to be able to plan for extended long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel at nuclear power plants for the foreseeable future it’s a national reality,”
Sandia to put nuclear waste storage canisters to the test, https://www.newswise.com/articles/sandia-to-put-nuclear-waste-storage-canisters-to-the-test,
Scientists will explore science of cracks caused by corrosion,
10-Dec-2020 , by Sandia National Laboratories Newswise ALBUQUERQUE, N.M
. Sandia National Laboratories is outfitting three 22.5-ton, 16.5-feet-long stainless-steel storage canisters with heaters and instrumentation to simulate nuclear waste so researchers can study their durability.