The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) has decided to compile a report that deems the safety measures for the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant appropriate, another step toward giving it an official certificate of safety, a prerequisite for operation.
The decision was revealed Monday when the NRA announced the agenda for its regular meeting on Wednesday, when details of the report will be discussed.
Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. (JNFL), which operates the spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in the village of Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, will begin procedures to obtain approval from the relevant local governments, including the prefecture. According to its blueprint, JNFL will complete construction in September 2021 and will start operation in January 2022.
The NRA, however, will also screen the construction work. Procedures for the screening are expected to take a certain amount of time, making the construction period likely to face delays.
The recent report certifies that the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant complies with the new regulatory standards concerning the safety of nuclear facilities. Since JNFL applied for the screening in January 2014, the NRA has confirmed the safety measures of about 80 items and then compiled a draft screening report in May. This time, the wording of the report will take into account about 760 comments from the general public.
Among the measures approved by the NRA are policies to strengthen preparations for the leakage of water vapor containing radioactive substances due to simmering high-level radioactive effluent, as well as for natural disasters such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
The Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant will serve as the core facility of Japan's nuclear fuel cycle policy to reprocess nuclear fuel used at power plants. At the plant, uranium and plutonium are extracted from spent nuclear fuel for reuse. The facility's six main buildings are divided by the process used to handle radioactive materials. All the buildings are connected by about 1,300 kilometers of pipes.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
