SAGA (Kyodo) The key part of preparations for Japan's first plutonium- thermal power generation was completed Sunday as Kyushu Electric Power Co. finished loading plutonium-uranium mixed oxide, or MOX, fuel into a reactor at its Genkai nuclear power plant in Saga Prefecture a day ahead of schedule.
In the process that began Thursday at the plant's No. 3 reactor, 80 of 193 uranium fuel bundles were replaced with new ones, of which 16 contained MOX fuel, according to the utility.
The company plans to commence test runs of "pluthermal" power generation at the reactor starting early next month and to gradually increase its output to begin commercial operations in early December, they said.
Shikoku Electric Power Co. and Chubu Electric Power Co. are also planning to launch pluthermal generation at their nuclear plants.