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Kyodo
(June 16, 2006)
The Shimane prefectural government backs Chugoku Electric Power Co.'s plan to apply to the central government for permission to start using uranium and plutonium mixed oxide fuel at its nuclear power plant in the prefectural capital of Matsue, Shimane Gov. Nobuyoshi Sumita said Friday.
For the time being, however, the prefecture has decided to approve only the filing of the application, and will make a final decision on whether to accept the so-called pluthermal plan itself after the central government conducts safety examinations, the governor told a session of the prefectural assembly.
As the city of Matsue plans to decide on whether to accept the application only after discussions at the city assembly and at a symposium planned in August, the earliest Chugoku Electric will be able to file the application is in September.
Sumita said that he believes the plan will receive the all-clear, on the assumption that "it passes the state's strict safety screening and that Chugoku Electric conducts operations properly."
He also said the plan is reasonable from the standpoint of securing a stable supply of energy.
The western Japan prefecture's move came after Chugoku Electric sought approval from the prefecture and the city last September to start the project at the Shimane nuclear power plant's No. 2 reactor, an 820,000-kilowatt boiling water reactor.
Under the pluthermal or plutonium-thermal power generation scheme, reactors would burn MOX fuel made from spent fuel, stockpiles of which have been growing rapidly at Japanese reactors.
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