Laboratories in Japan and the United States will soon launch a joint study on how to run a test reactor in Osaka by using low enriched uranium fuel (LEU) instead of highly enriched uranium fuel (HEU), which can be diverted for weapons use, a researcher involved in the project says.
Hironobu Unesaki, professor at Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute, said Saturday the research will be conducted by the institute and the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory.
The move, which comes amid heightened concerns that HEU fuel used for research could be diverted for use in terrorism, is expected to find ways to overcome technical problems involving switching to LEU fuel.