13 Aug (NucNet): Building has begun in Japan of a plant that will manufacture a new centrifugal separator, the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF) said yesterday.
JAIF said Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited (JNFL) had started construction of the plant at its headquarters in Rokkasho, Aomori prefecture.
The plant will have a total floor area of 4,700 square metres. JAIF said a “complete system for manufacturing, assembling and inspection” is now taking shape, including the site’s existing facility for testing enrichment equipment.
The separator will be manufactured and assembled by JNFL, which plans to start using the new centrifugal separator at its uranium enrichment plant between April 2010 and March 2011.
The Japanese government’s Advisory Committee for Natural Resources and Energy’s Supply and Demand Subcommittee said last year that next-generation light water reactor units would be developed jointly by the public and private sectors in preparation for expected demand for replacing existing units around 2030. Demonstration units for fast breeder reactors should be available around 2025, while new centrifugal separators could be commercialised by fiscal year 2009.
- by John Shepherd
>>Related reports in the NucNet database (available to subscribers)
Japan Committee Evaluates Next-Generation Technologies (World Nuclear Review No. 42, 19 October 2007)
