nuclear-news

Radioactive trash sailing from France to Japan

Nuclear fuel leaves French port for Japan, first since Fukushima PARIS | Michael Rose,  Apr 18, 2013  (Reuters) – A shipment of highly radioactive nuclear fuel to Japan left the port of Cherbourg in northern France on Wednesday for the first time since the Fukushima disaster, French energy group Areva said on Thursday.

The shipment of mixed oxide fuel (MOX) is likely to be controversial inJapan, where public opposition to nuclear power and reactor restarts remains strong a month after the second anniversary of the March 11, 2011 catastrophe. France’s state-owned nuclear group, whose activities range from uranium mining and enrichment to reactors and waste recycling, said the shipment will go round the Cape of Good Hope and then through the south-west of the Pacific Ocean.

The group added in a statement it expected the Pacific Heron and Pacific Egret cargoes of British nuclear shipping company PNTL to reach Japanese waters in the second half of June….. The MOX shipment is destined for Kansai Electric Power Co’s Takahama nuclear plant west of Tokyo.

Because MOX fuel contains around 7 percent plutonium, it is perceived as a national security threat, and special precautions are taken during transportation….. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/18/us-areva-mox-japan-idUSBRE93H0EO20130418

April 19, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized