A plant under construction in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, to produce plutonium-uranium mixed oxide fuel, a major component of the country's stalled nuclear fuel recycling program, formally passed safety checks by regulators Wednesday.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority gave its approval, despite the lack of a concrete plan for the usage of MOX fuel going forward due to the slow resumption of nuclear power generation following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis, triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami.
MOX fuel is made of plutonium and uranium extracted while reprocessing spent fuel from nuclear reactors nationwide. Only four reactors currently use such recycled fuel for pluthermal power generation, with the number of such units not expected to increase in the near future.