Japan’s nuclear research project using a fast-breeder reactor did not yield sufficient results despite taxpayer money spent on it, state auditors said Friday. The project involving the trouble-plagued Monju prototype reactor, developed to play a key role in fuel recycling, only achieved 16 percent of the planned results while costing the government at least 1.13 trillion yen ($10.3 billion), the Board of Audit of Japan said. The government has already decided to scrap the reactor, estimating an additional cost of 375 billion yen. But the board noted that the 30-year decommissioning plan could cost more. The reactor, designed to produce more plutonium than it consumes while generating electricity, barely operated over the past two decades as it experienced a series of problems, including a leakage of sodium coolant and equipment inspection failures.
Mainichi 12th May 2018 read more »
A seismologist has testified during the trial of three former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), operator of the tsunami-ravaged nuclear plant, that the nuclear crisis could have been prevented if proper countermeasures had been taken.
Mainichi 10th May 2018 read more »
