Kansai Electric Power Co. was given formal, final approval Saturday to restart a stalled program using reprocessed spent nuclear fuel in nuclear power reactors.
In a meeting with the utility's president, Fukui Gov. Issei Nishikawa announced a decision to follow the national government and the Takahama Municipal Government in allowing Kepco to use mixed uranium-plutonium oxide (MOX) fuel at its Takahama plant.
With the consent, Kepco is expected to sign a contract, probably later this month, to manufacture MOX fuel overseas. Kepco aims to use MOX fuel in 2007 at the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at the Takahama plant, making it the first utility in Japan to use reprocessed nuclear fuel for power generation.