A nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Ibaraki Prefecture that was closed after a fire and explosion in March 1997 will resume operations Nov. 20, the plant's operator said Tuesday.
The state-run Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute made the announcement at a briefing for local municipalities, who gave their approval to resume operations.
The plant, in the village of Tokai, will continue reprocessing uranium solution taken from another JCO Co. plant, also in Tokai, that was the site of the nation's worst peacetime nuclear accident, in 1999.
The self-sustaining chain reaction at the JCO plant on Sept. 30 killed two JCO employees and exposed at least 438 people to higher-than-normal levels of radiation in the village. The first plant will also start reprocessing spent nuclear fuel from the Fugen, an advanced thermal reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, beginning on Nov. 27 to avoid shutting down the reactor.
Fugen's spent fuel storage pool is filled to capacity and a delay in the reopening of the Tokai nuclear fuel reprocessing plant could have forced Fugen to halt operations, which could have impeded the resumption of operations at the Monju, a prototype fast-breeder reactor also in Tsuruga.
The Tokai facility was at the center of Japan's nuclear reprocessing operations until the March 1997 accident, which exposed 37 workers to high levels of radiation.
The national Nuclear Safety Commission, the Science and Technology Agency, and the Ibaraki nuclear safety commission had already cleared the Tokai fuel reprocessing plant to resume operations, but permission was revoked after the lethal accident at the second JCO plant, which prompted authorities to re-examine safety procedures.