27 Sep (NucNet): Unit 3 of the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan has begun generating electricity using mixed uranium-plutonium oxide (MOX) fuel.
The 760-megawatt unit, owned and operated by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), is the third reactor in Japan to use MOX fuel and the first boiling water reactor to do so.
The Japan Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF) said the unit began generating electricity with MOX fuel at 07:46 on 23 September 2010.
JAIF said the national government will carry out a final inspection of the reactor before commercial operation with MOX fuel begins in October 2010.
Unit 3 of the six-unit Genkai nuclear plant, owned and operated by the Kyushu Electric Power Company, began MOX-fueled generation in November 2009, while unit 3 of the Ikata plant, owned and operated by the Shikoku Electric Power Company, began MOX-fueled generation in March 2010.
Tepco obtained a preliminary agreement from siting municipalities for the use of MOX fuel in 1998. The Japanese government granted approval in 1999, but the MOX fuel programme was suspended in 2002 after the falsification of records at the plant.
>>Related reports in the NucNet database (available to subscribers)
MOX Fuel Approved For Japan’s Fukushima-Daiichi-3 (News In Brief No. 37, 22 February 2010)
