A basic cooperative site agreement has been signed between Aomori Prefecture, Rokkasho Village, Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd (JNFL) and the Federation of Electric Power Companies (FEPCO) for a MOX Fuel Fabrication Plant. The Citizens' Nuclear Information Center protests Aomori Prefecture's decision to sign this agreement for another nuclear facility and demands that it rescind the agreement.
It is planned that the Rokkasho MOX Fuel Fabrication Plant will be built within the precincts of the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant. It will fabricate MOX fuel using the plutonium separated at the reprocessing plant. However, plans for the use of this fuel are still at the drawing board stage. Ten years have passed since the MOX use plan (pluthermal) was established in 1995, but it has not been implemented anywhere. Furthermore, due to a series of accidents and scandals, the trust of the local people around nuclear power plants has been completely lost. Tokyo Electric Power Company forged inspection data and concealed problems at its nuclear power plants. An accident involving a burst pipe at Kansai Electric Power Company's Mihama-3 reactor resulted in the deaths of five people. There has been one problem after another involving Chubu Electric Power Company. As a result of these incidents there is no reason to believe that the pluthermal plan can be implemented. With the pluthermal plan for the 35 tons of plutonium held in France and the UK deadlocked, even though FEPCO wants to announce a new MOX use plan before active trials begin at the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant, it is clear that this can only be an exercise on paper.
Public distrust is directed towards the pluthermal plan, the nuclear fuel cycle and nuclear power in general. In Aomori Prefecture, 83% of the citizens feel anxiety regarding the safety of nuclear facilities. This is a very serious state of affairs. It speaks volumes for the situation where nuclear plans are foisted on the public. Nuclear facilities are built first then explanations and attempts to gain public understanding come later. There has been insufficient debate within the Aomori Prefectural Assembly and among the general public. The New Long-term Nuclear Plan is now being debated. There is no doubt that the debate will continue in regard to the nuclear fuel cycle policy. A debate involving the general public regarding Japan's use of nuclear energy, including the pros and cons of the nuclear fuel cycle, is necessary. Aomori Prefecture's rough and ready approach to the site agreement for the MOX Fuel Fabrication Plant narrows its future options and makes Japan's nuclear power policy even more rigid. We at the Citizens' Nuclear Information Center once again strongly demand that the site agreement for the MOX Fuel Fabrication Plant be rescinded.
