In an attempt to reduce its dependence on fossil fuel, Japan is pushing a nuclear fuel cycle that will take spent nuclear fuel and reprocess it into new fuel for nuclear power plants. But the project is making poor progress. One problem is a hitch in the construction of a plant in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, that is to reprocess spent nuclear fuel.
In 1989 Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. applied for government approval to construct and operate the plant. The completion date of the plant recently was postponed from October 2010 to October 2012. This is the 18th time that the date has been pushed back since 1989.
Mainly relying on technology imported from France, the test run at Rokkasho to extract plutonium and uranium from spent nuclear fuel and purify them went fairly smoothly. But JNFL hit a snag in developing its own technology to contain high-level radioactive waste in glass.