In a landmark referendum on Japan's nuclear-fuel recycling program, held last Sunday in Kariwa, Niigata Prefecture, a majority of village residents voted against a Tokyo Electric Power Co. project to use plutonium as reactor fuel at its nuclear-power plant there. The so-called pluthermal program, which involves burning plutonium recovered from spent nuclear fuel in existing light-water reactors, is now stalled in Niigata and two other prefectures, Fukui and Fukushima.

The vote has further clouded the prospects for nuclear-fuel recycling, dealing yet another setback to the nation's nuclear-energy policy. It has sent a wake-up call to the government and to the electric-power companies that run nuclear-power plants. Now, both need to address even more seriously residents' fears and concerns about nuclear energy and make further efforts to gain their support.

The pluthermal program, approved by the Cabinet in 1997, uses mixed fuel of uranium and plutonium, known as mixed oxide (MOX). According to the original plan, MOX fuel was to be introduced in stages, beginning in the late 1990s, at three nuclear plants in Fukui, Fukushima and Niigata; eventually, by around 2010, the mixed fuel would have been used in a total of 16 to 18 reactors throughout the country.

The plan went awry in the autumn of 1999 when part of the test data on the MOX produced in Europe for use at the Takahama plant in Fukui was found to have been fabricated. As a result, the pluthermal project there was put on hold, while the one at the Fukushima plant was postponed. In Fukushima, Gov. Eisaku Sato announced in February this year that he would not approve the project for the time being, citing a lack of public acceptance. The announcement dashed the hopes of the government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. that the project would get off the ground in the spring.

A key question following the referendum is how the local government will respond. The ball is now in their court, since the outcome of the vote is not legally binding. It is essential, however, that they weigh all relevant factors very carefully, instead of jumping to conclusions.

Having no energy resources to speak of, Japan is committed to establishing its own nuclear-fuel cycle in which all spent fuel is reprocessed and the plutonium extracted from it is used again as fuel. Since plutonium can also be used in nuclear weapons, Japan has pledged not to reprocess the fuel unless the nation has reactors that can safely consume it.

A full-scale reprocessing plant is now under construction in Rokkasho Village, Aomori Prefecture, at a cost of more than 2 trillion yen. The facility is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2005. The problem is that the plan to run fast-breeder reactors using heavy-water coolant, considered the best hope for plutonium utilization, is up in the air because of an accident at the prototype reactor Monju. So the light-water reactor is, at least for the time being, the only means of using the fuel. If the pluthermal program were to be completely rejected, the operation of the reprocessing plant itself could become irrelevant.

But it is also true that many Japanese remain skeptical about the pluthermal program. The skepticism is warranted, and not only for safety and other known reasons. For one thing, plutonium does not burn evenly. To ensure that fuel tubes do not break, Japanese-made tubes of special quality are used as containers for MOX pellets produced in Europe.

Lack of operational experience is another problem. In Europe, more than 1,700 MOX-fuel assemblies, each consisting of many fuel rods, are used in light-water reactors. In Japan, only six assemblies have been used. Price is yet another problem. An MOX assembly from Europe is said to cost at least 10 times as much as a uranium-fuel assembly, because of high reprocessing and transportation costs.

Reprocessing is necessary for more effective use of uranium resources. Still, many wonder, and with good reason, whether it is really necessary to promote nuclear-fuel recycling at such a high cost. The pluthermal program can utilize only about 1 percent of uranium. Moreover, reprocessing technology for spent MOX fuel has yet to be established. And it remains uncertain whether a second reprocessing plant will be constructed in addition to the one under construction in Rokkasho.

The fast-breeder reactor is considered indispensable to the full-scale utilization of uranium resources. However, the economic and technical prospects for its commercial operation are grim, not only in Japan but in the rest of the world. In light of these doubts and uncertainties, the government and power companies need to come up with a more specific plan for the safe and efficient handling of plutonium.