Gov't To Co-Develop Improved Radioactive Waste Disposal Furnace

January 31, 2009

(The Associated Press)

The industry ministry and Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. have decided to
jointly develop an improved model of a radioactive waste disposal furnace at a spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Aomori Prefecture for
introduction possibly in the fiscal year ending March 2013, ministry
sources said Saturday.

The cost of development is expected to exceed 14 billion yen,
of which the government will provide financial assistance of some 7 billion
yen, they said.

The decision was made because the melting furnace at the plant
in the town of Rokkasho has had technical problems, causing the plant to
extend the completion of its trial period to August.

Under the plan, the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry and the
plant's operator will improve the structure of the melting furnace to
prevent platinum-group metals from accumulating on the bottom of the
melting furnace.

In the current model of the furnace, platinum-group metals easily
accumulate at the floor of the furnace, making it difficult to produce
vitrified waste.

At the plant, Japan Nuclear Fuel has been producing vitrified
waste, which is later buried underground, by mixing high-level radioactive
liquid waste with glass raw materials in the melting furnace.

Plutonium is extracted in the course of reprocessing at the
reprocessing plant for spent nuclear fuels produced at nuclear power
reactors across the country.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: 14 billion Japanese yen = 157.318 million U.S.
dollars)