The Japanese government has announced it will revamp its policy on the plutonium-burning Monju fast-breeder reactor (FBR) that has been operating only few hours since its commissioning in 1995.
The Government will consider all options for the 280 MWe Monju prototype FBR, which was intended having a key role in the country's nuclear fuel recycling policy, including to scrap it. A panel, on behalf of the Government, to discuss the country's fast-reactor development policy will be launched. According to the press, the project has already cost more than JPN1,000bn or close to US$10bn.
Great hopes were placed in the in MOX feeded reactor as it was supposed to produce more fuel than it consumes and thus help Japan with energy security. Instead, the Monju reactor run only 205 days in 1995 before being stopped due to a sodium leak, and another 45 days in 2010 before being stopped again due to refuelling equipment falling into the reactor vessel.
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