MOX arrives in Japan from France

A shipment of mixed oxide fuel (MOX), a blend of plutonium and uranium, arrived in Japan Monday from France so Japanese nuclear power plants could begin using it for the first time as early as the fall, media reports said. MOX is used in pluthermal power generation and is an alternative to the low enriched uranium usually used in nuclear power plants.

Kyushu Electric Power Co’s Genkai plant was expected to start operating pluthermal generation using MOX by late October. Shikoku Electric Power Co’s Ikata plant was planning to follow suit by February, and the Hamaoka plant run by the Chubu Electric Power Co should start by next summer, Jiji Press said. The shipment of the French-made fuel arrived at the central Japanese port of Omaezaki after Japan had placed three orders for MOX fuel from Europe. Two previous deliveries were not used because of allegations of falsified data. Japan’s power industry plans to start pluthermal power generation at 16 to 18 nuclear power plants in the next fiscal year, which begins April 1.

Source: Earth Times