MOX fuel production plant in Aomori clears regulator safety checks

Is this same plant that was testing fuel. Where the Japanese scientists dumped fuel rods into a drum can and died. Welcome to the Japanese Nuclear Experiment....or was that Fukushima...

Nope, that was Tokaimura.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokaimura_nuclear_accident

Luckily plutonium/uranium only have a half life of 1000yrs. That means it has to be stored safely for the next 1000 years on one of the worlds most active earthquake and volcanic island group.

BTW plutonium is present on some beaches in Ibaraki from Fukushima, have travelled there underground via the water tables.

its an alpha radionuclide, meaning it just enters the body, continually smashing cells until the host human dies.

why we need it? Who is paying for production and storage?

Not sure where you get your figures from, Goodlucktoyou, and I am sure you are being cynical, but it depends on the isotope.

Pu-239 for example has a half life of 24,100 years.

https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/plutonium.html#:~:text=The%20different%20isotopes%20have%20different,they%20emit%20more%20energetic%20radioactivity.

As a by-product of NPPs, it can be stored, used for various things, or burnt up in MOX fuel.

@nandakandamanda - yes, half lives are isotope specific, e.g. U-233 160,000 years, U-235 - 703,800,000 years, U-238 - 4.468 billion years!

A good rule of thumb is that, after seven half-lives, you will have less than one percent of the original amount of radiation. It is generally accepted that 10 half lives will reduce the radiation from most sources to a safe level. It may be above background, but not at a level that will harm you.

Can anything be done close to budget? And why continue on this path with only 3 aging reactors going and none planed to be built ....yet? Future planning no a strong point, budgeting not a strong point. Saftey of dubious quality, saving face excellent marks, corruption above the norm.

Quote: "It is important that utilities show usage plans (of MOX fuel) at an appropriate time," NRA Chairman Toyoshi Fuketa said earlier.

This must mean that they do not have a use yet for the proposed end product.

Quote: "...all approved the safety measures taken at the MOX fuel plant in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, such as not placing all nuclear fuel substances in one location and installing fire control equipment."

And this must mean that the equipment and safety checks were pretty rudimentary.