Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant
Encyclopedia
The is a nuclear reprocessing
Nuclear reprocessing
Nuclear reprocessing technology was developed to chemically separate and recover fissionable plutonium from irradiated nuclear fuel. Reprocessing serves multiple purposes, whose relative importance has changed over time. Originally reprocessing was used solely to extract plutonium for producing...

 plant with an annual capacity of 800 tons of uranium
Uranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...

 or 8 tons of plutonium
Plutonium
Plutonium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with the chemical symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation...

, owned by Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited
Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited
Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. is a nuclear energy company based in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, Japan involved in the production of nuclear fuel, as well as the reprocessing, storage and disposal of nuclear waste...

 located in the village of Rokkasho
Rokkasho, Aomori
is a village located in the Kamikita District of northeastern Aomori Prefecture in the Tōhoku region of Japan. As of 2009, the village had an estimated population of 10,890 and a density of 43 persons per km². Its total area was 253.01 km².-Geography:...

 in northeast Aomori Prefecture
Aomori Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku Region. The capital is the city of Aomori.- History :Until the Meiji Restoration, the area of Aomori prefecture was known as Mutsu Province....

, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 approximately 17 miles (27 kilometers) north of the US Air Force's Misawa Air Base
Misawa Air Base
right|thumb|A US Navy C-2 at Misawa is a United States military facility located northeast of the railway station in Misawa, west of the Pacific Ocean, northeast of Towada, northwest of Hachinohe, and north of Tokyo, in Aomori Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region in the northern part of the...

. Since 1993 there has been US$ 20 billion invested in the project, nearly triple the original cost estimate. It is currently undergoing test operations, separating a small amount of used nuclear fuel. It is the successor to a smaller reprocessing plant located in Tōkai, Ibaraki
Tokai, Ibaraki
is a village located in Naka District, Ibaraki, Japan. It is approximately 120 km north of Tokyo, Japan on the Pacific coast.As of 1 January 2005, the village has an estimated population of 35,467 and a population density of 946.29 persons per km²...

.

At the same site there will also be:
  • A high level nuclear waste monitoring facility
  • A MOX fuel
    MOX fuel
    Mixed oxide fuel, commonly referred to as MOX fuel, is nuclear fuel that contains more than one oxide of fissile material. MOX fuel contains plutonium blended with natural uranium, reprocessed uranium, or depleted uranium. MOX fuel is an alternative to the low-enriched uranium fuel used in the...

     fabrication plant
  • A uranium enrichment plant
  • A low level radioactive waste landfill


In 2010, the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant consisted of 38 buildings on an area of 3,800,000 m².

Protests

In May 2006, an international awareness campaign about the dangers of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant, Stop Rokkasho
Stop Rokkasho
Stop Rokkasho is a project run by the Japanese NGO Boomerang Net and headed up by musician Ryuichi Sakamoto. In order to bring attention to the nuclear reprocessing plant in Rokkasho in Aomori Prefecture, they get artists to contribute songs and other art to the cause. The music and other media are...

, was launched by musician Ryuichi Sakamoto
Ryuichi Sakamoto
After working as a session musician with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi in 1977, the trio formed the internationally successful electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1978. Known for their seminal influence on electronic music, the group helped pioneer electronic genres such as...

. Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...

 has opposed the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant under a campaign called "Wings of Peace - No more Hiroshima Nagasaki", since 2002 and has launched a cyberaction to stop the project. Consumers Union of Japan
Consumers Union of Japan
or CUJ was founded in 1969 by Takeuchi Naokazu. CUJ is certified as a non-profit organization by Japan's NPO legislation. With offices in Nishi-Waseda, Tokyo, CUJ publishes "Consumer Report" as a member newsletter, as well as an online service in Japanese....

 together with 596 organisations and groups participated in a parade on Jan. 27, 2008 in central Tokyo against the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant. Over 810,000 signatures were collected and handed in to the government on Jan. 28, 2008. Representatives of the protesters, which include fishery associations, consumer cooperatives and surfer groups, handed the petition to the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Seven consumer organisations have joined in this effort: Consumers Union of Japan
Consumers Union of Japan
or CUJ was founded in 1969 by Takeuchi Naokazu. CUJ is certified as a non-profit organization by Japan's NPO legislation. With offices in Nishi-Waseda, Tokyo, CUJ publishes "Consumer Report" as a member newsletter, as well as an online service in Japanese....

,
Seikatsu Club Consumer’s Co-operative Union, Daichi-o-Mamoru Kai, Green Consumer’s Co-operative Union,
Consumer’s Co-operative Union “Kirari”, Consumer’s Co-operative Miyagi and Pal-system Co-operative Union.

Vitrification
Vitrification
Vitrification is the transformation of a substance into a glass. Usually, it is achieved by rapidly cooling a liquid through the glass transition. Certain chemical reactions also result in glasses...

 tests completed in November 2007. This consists of pouring high level dry waste reside along with molten glass into steel canisters.

In June 2008, several scientists stated that the Rokkasho plant is sited directly above an active geological fault line that could produce a magnitude 8 earthquake. But Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited have stated that there was no reason to fear an earthquake of more than magnitude 6.5 at the site, and that the plant could withstand a 6.9 quake.

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami

After the Tōhoku earthquake
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
The 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku, also known as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, or the Great East Japan Earthquake, was a magnitude 9.0 undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST on Friday, 11 March 2011, with the epicenter approximately east...

 in March 2011, the plant ran on emergency power provided by backup diesel generators. The emergency generators were not intended for long-term use. Reportedly there are about 3,000 tons of highly radioactive used nuclear fuel
Nuclear fuel
Nuclear fuel is a material that can be 'consumed' by fission or fusion to derive nuclear energy. Nuclear fuels are the most dense sources of energy available...

 stored in Rokkasho at current, that could overheat and catch fire if the cooling systems fail. Japanese radio reported on March 13 that 600 liters of water leaked at the Rokkasho spent fuel pool. According to The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, grid power was restored on March 14, 2011.

The 7 April aftershock caused the loss of grid power again until the next day.

See also

  • Stop Rokkasho
    Stop Rokkasho
    Stop Rokkasho is a project run by the Japanese NGO Boomerang Net and headed up by musician Ryuichi Sakamoto. In order to bring attention to the nuclear reprocessing plant in Rokkasho in Aomori Prefecture, they get artists to contribute songs and other art to the cause. The music and other media are...

     - Opposition group
  • Other Reprocessing Sites:
    • COGEMA La Hague site
      COGEMA La Hague site
      The AREVA NC La Hague site is a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant of AREVA in La Hague on the French Cotentin Peninsula that currently has nearly half of the world's light water reactor spent nuclear fuel reprocessing capacity. It has been in operation since 1976, and has a capacity of about 1700...

    • Thorp nuclear fuel reprocessing plant
      Thorp nuclear fuel reprocessing plant
      The Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant, or THORP, is a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant at Sellafield in Cumbria, England. THORP is owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and operated by Sellafield Ltd...

  • 2011 Japanese nuclear accidents
    2011 Japanese nuclear accidents
    This is a list of articles describing aspects of the nuclear shut-downs, failures, and nuclear meltdowns triggered by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.-Fukushima nuclear power plants:* Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant...

  • Lists of nuclear disasters and radioactive incidents

Further reading

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