The long-stalled project to commercialize fast-breeder reactor technology has been kept alive by the Abe administration in its plan for the nation's new basic energy policy. Thus the government once again has missed the opportunity to shutter the Monju prototype reactor — which has been inoperative for most of the past two decades — and to rethink its pursuit of the nuclear fuel cycle based on reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel for consumption at the fast-breeder reactor and other nuclear power plants.
Although the plan says the government will push for a "thorough reform" of Monju's operator, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, and aim to wrap up the fruits of its research, the track record of the project's history raises serious doubts about its prospect.
The fast-breeder reactor has been touted as "dream" nuclear energy technology that produces more plutonium than it consumes — supposedly a boon for the resource-scarce Japan. But most other nations around the world have given up on commercializing the technology due to technical difficulties, including those involved in the use of sodium as coolant, and the massive costs involved.