Let me introduce myself. I am Shiro Arai, the newly appointed president of the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, Inc. I heartily offer my greetings to you in my new position.
The energy environment continues to change radically, with the long-term outlook uncertain. The low energy self-sufficiency rate of Japan—a country poor in natural resources while heavily dependent on imports—makes energy a matter of national security, even as we must maintain and enhance measures to deal with global warming, an increasingly serious issue.
Nuclear power can play a great role in that, as it is a key base-load power source that can provide large amounts of power in a stable fashion, while advancing efforts to deal with global warming.
Only nine nuclear power plants are now in service in Japan, a number insufficient to demonstrate the true value of nuclear power. The domestic nuclear industry must strive to make the most efficient use of its existing reactors by restart...
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JAIF has released a new publication titled "Nuclear Energy Buyers Guide in Japan 2020-21."
The Buyers Guide lists business profiles of over 60 JAIF’s member companies/organizations (out of approximately 400) that not only proactively engage in international business in their respective markets, but also are seeking new collaborative opportunities with counterparts from around the globe.
We hope that this book will be of help to you and your company in the nuclear-related business activities.
You can download this book from HERE (PDF 32MB)....
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At a meeting held on July 29, 2020, the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) of Japan approved changes to the nuclear spent fuel reprocessing business of Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. (JNFL). Realization of the reprocessing plant—at the heart of Japan’s nuclear fuel cycle project—will be a great step forward. It has been six and a half years since the firm first applied for safety checks back in January 2014. I want to express my appreciation to JNFL, the NRA and all the other parties involved for their efforts.
Reprocessing involves the recycling of resources, in which uranium and plutonium are separated and recovered from nuclear fuel previously used for power generation (nuclear spent fuel), and used as fuel again. We can be proud of the fact that the reprocessing plant integrates technologies from various countries, including the vitrification and denitrification of high-level radioactive liquid waste (HLW) done by Japan, the shearing, dissolution, separation and refining done by France, the enriching of HLW and acid recovery done by England, and the removal of iodine done by Germany.
Natural uranium for nuclear fuel must be imported, as Japan has none of its own. Thanks to its high energy density, however, as well as the fact that it is easy to store, the substance is inherently suitable f...
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On July 29, the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) of Japan finalized a review report for the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant owned by Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. (JNFL), saying that the facility was compatible with the government’s new regulatory standards. It then granted JNFL permission to make changes to the installation under the Law for the Regulation of Nuclear Source Material, Nuclear Fuel Material and Reactors (the Reactor Regulation Law). It has been six and a half years since the application had first been filed for the examination in January 2014.
The draft review report was issued more than two months ago, on May 13, and was then made open to the public for comments for thirty days. Since it was the first time for the NRA to hand down a decision affecting the operation of a reprocessing plant, the Authority asked the head of Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to comment on the decision’s consistency with the 5th Strategic Energy Plan. The minister responded that completion of the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant was “consistent with the plan,” based on the basic policy to promote the nuclear fuel cycle.
At a regular meeting on July 29, the NRA Secretariat summarized the public comments received, of which there had been 574. Following those explanations, NRA Chairman Toyoshi Fuketa and the four other commissioners ...
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