Revelations that the government apparently buried for a decade a report that says reprocessing spent atomic fuel is much more expensive than burying it is causing a political furor that industry analysts say may pull the plug on the nation's nuclear recycling policy.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and its predecessor, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, sat for a decade on the internal estimates, which indicate the cost to bury nuclear waste is lower than recycling it. The government instead pursued a policy under which all spent nuclear fuel would be reprocessed for plutonium to be reused as fuel.
In March, Kazumasa Kusaka, then director general of the Natural Resources and Energy Agency, told the House of Councilors Budget Committee, "Japan has not made any cost estimates for (the option of) not reprocessing" spent fuel.