A government nuclear panel said Tuesday it expects Japan to reduce its plutonium stockpile in the long term amid international concerns over the nation's rising quantities of the material, which can be used to make nuclear weapons.
The plan was outlined in a document issued by the Japan Atomic Energy Commission aimed at highlighting the country's principle of not possessing plutonium without a specified purpose. Japan is the only non-nuclear weapons state in the world that is proceeding with a commercial spent fuel reprocessing project.
While the nation's nuclear policy has been thrown into disarray following the 2011 Fukushima No. 1 triple meltdown disaster, the government has maintained a long-standing policy of reprocessing spent uranium fuel and reusing the extracted plutonium and uranium as reactor fuel.