Nine major power utilities and Japan Atomic Power Co. have selected the village of Rokkasho in Aomori Prefecture as the site of a planned factory to manufacture mixed uranium and plutonium oxide fuel (MOX).
The nine firms and Japan Atomic Power will commission Japan Nuclear Service Fuel Service Co., based in the city of Aomori, to build the plant for manufacturing MOX fuel, they said Friday.
MOX fuel -- produced by mixing uranium with plutonium chemically extracted from spent nuclear fuel -- powers light-water nuclear reactors.