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Plutonium Utilization and Prevalence of |
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Currently, recycle of plutonium, or plutonium utilization in LWRs is under way mainly in European countries including France and Germany. As of December 2001, 3543 MOX fuels have been loaded at LWRs all over the world. Among those fuels, 1614 fuels were loaded in France, 1204 in Germany, 276 in Switzerland and 257 in Belgium. In Fugen, 748 MOX fuels were loaded by the end of 2001 after the first criticality and it makes up approximately one fifth of MOX fuels loaded in LWRs all over the world. This is the largest number for a single reactor in the world. This does not only mean the success in full-scale plutonium utilization at Fugen but also means the completion of plutonium cycle in Japan by utilizing plutonium recovered from LWR fuel at Tokai reprocessing plant and reusing plutonium recovered from Fugen's spent MOX fuels. Furthermore, depleted uranium recovered from LWR fuel and tail uranium from enrichment plant in Ningyo-Toge works was reutilized for MOX fuel to complete the uranium cycle. These great achievements embodied the establishment of nuclear fuel cycle, which was the fundamental nuclear energy policy in Japan. |
| In this way, Fugen contributed to the establishment and prevalence of Japan's nuclear fuel cycle technologies playing the role in technical development as a pioneer and demonstrating the full-scale plutonium utilization. These achievements helped the deeper understanding domestically and internationally in peaceful utilization of plutonium. Fugen project can be evaluated to have attained a great success. |
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Utilization of MOX Fuel in the World Compared with Fugen
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