Staff writer

For a country obsessed with its lack of natural resources, the shipment of mixed uranium-plutonium oxide fuel due to arrive in Fukushima Prefecture is a landmark in Japan's quest to increase energy self-sufficiency and establish a nuclear fuel cycle by consuming plutonium recycled from its spent fuel.

But the use of plutonium in fuel is a sensitive issue in Japan, where antinuclear sentiment is strong and public trust in atomic power has been damaged in recent years by accidents, coverups and data falsification attempts by the power industry.

Two British vessels carrying 40 MOX fuel assemblies in five canisters from Europe arrived in Japanese waters Wednesday morning. One of the ships, carrying 32 MOX assemblies for Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, is expected to reach port as soon as weather permits.

The 32 assemblies, containing 3 percent to 4 percent plutonium per rod, will be inserted in a boiling water reactor at the plant. Tokyoites will receive electricity generated from the plutonium-blend fuel as early as February, when the reactor, now down for a regular inspection, goes back online.

Tepco plans to gradually replace 30 percent of the uranium fuel in its core with MOX.

The other shipment of eight assemblies will arrive as early as next week at Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Takahama nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture. Despite the scandal over falsified inspection data at British Nuclear Fuel Ltd. on a yet to be dispatched MOX shipment, the utility said it wants to start burning MOX as early as November if the fuel is judged to be safe upon arrival.

Given the cost of reprocessing spent nuclear fuel and transporting it, MOX is not a cheap option. But both the government and the power industry regard the program as a major pillar of the nation's nuclear power policy.

They say it is crucial for Japan, a country that buys 80 percent of its energy resources overseas, to reinforce its energy security by reprocessing spent nuclear fuel and milking energy resources to the maximum possible extent.

MOX fuel enables reactors to cut uranium fuel consumption by 25 percent, they claim.

"MOX is at present the most reliable way to use recycled plutonium," a Tepco spokesman said.

France and Britain are also turning to MOX now that their dreams for a fast-breeder reactor, which could generate more plutonium than it consumes, is dead.

The United States and Russia see MOX as a way to deal with the nuclear legacy of the Cold War. They are considering using about 100 tons of plutonium from dismantled nuclear warheads in MOX fuel.

Japan also has a plutonium stockpile it needs to get rid of.

The country has not yet totally given up on its fast-breeder reactor program, but with the Monju prototype still shut down following a sodium leak and a subsequent coverup in 1995, concerns have arisen over how to deal with the nation's growing plutonium stockpile.

Currently, there are five tons of plutonium in Japan, and 24 tons reprocessed from spent fuel are being held at European plants.

Between 1994 and 2010, 30 tons of plutonium reprocessed by British and French firms from spent fuel will be shipped back to Japan in MOX form.

Additionally, a reprocessing factory under construction in the village of Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, is slated to reprocess five tons of plutonium annually from spent fuel starting in 2005.

With Monju, Japan's main plutonium consumer, halted, the government and the power industry had to shift their focus to MOX to keep their international pledge of not possessing more plutonium than needed in commercial power stations.

"The use of MOX fuel has become a realistic choice for reducing the world's stockpile of surplus plutonium," said Tatsujiro Suzuki, an expert on nuclear energy policy and a visiting associate professor at the University of Tokyo.

The Japanese power industry plans to burn MOX in 16 to 18 light-water reactors by 2010. Japan has 51 commercial nuclear plants in operation.

As of April 1998, MOX fuel was used in some 40 commercial plants worldwide.

The governmental Nuclear Safety Commission has concluded that the fundamental technology for using MOX in light-water reactors is proven.

Industry officials maintain that although plutonium performs differently than uranium in reactors, safety can be assured through proper fuel design and adjusting reactor operations.

Antinuclear groups, however, are not convinced.

"We can't trust what the nuclear industry is doing ... The delay before BNFL finally informed Japan about the safety check problem proves it," Greenpeace press officer Luisa Colasimone said. "And who knows how often this has been happening? Who knows if this hasn't happened before?"

Critics also lash out at what they term inadequate security for MOX shipments from Europe to Japan.

Concerns have also been raised that Japan's nuclear fuel cycle policy could lead to proliferation of weapons-convertible plutonium and threaten East Asian security. Some experts point out that with a mastery of advanced rocket technology and a large stockpile of plutonium, Japan has the technological capability to make nuclear weapons.

"For other countries, holding plutonium itself is a source of concern," Suzuki said. "To win trust, Japan should be more transparent, take the initiative in the region's confidence building and show a much stronger antinuclear commitment."