Gov't panel bitterly criticizes budget for Monju prototype fast-breeder reactor project

[kristopher]

Gov't panel bitterly criticizes budget for Monju prototype fast-breeder reactor project

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yukio Edano, left front, speaks at the government panel tasked with cutting wasteful spending in Tokyo's Toshima Ward on Nov. 20 as nuclear disaster minister Goshi Hosono, second from left, listens. (Mainichi)

A Japanese government panel charged with cutting wasteful public expenses bitterly lashed out on Nov. 20 at massive spending for an ambitious program to develop nuclear fuel recycling technology based on the troubled Monju prototype fast-breeder reactor, a move that could affect the country's nuclear policy already undermined by the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant.

"Is it good to pour money into something 40 years into the future, something which has produced no results in the last 40 years?" said Yuichiro Tamaki, a House of Representatives lawmaker from the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). Tamaki was one of the members of the government panel that conducted its first screening session on government policies under Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Nov. 20. Other panel members also harshly criticized Monju-related spending.

A fast-breeder reactor was considered a "dream reactor" that would produce more fuel than consumed, and the government decided in 1970 to build the Monju prototype fast-breeder reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture. However, the reactor has been hobbled by a string of trouble, first with a fire breaking out there in 1995. The reactor resumed trial operations in May last year after being idle for 14 years and six months. Operations were suspended again in August 2010, when part of a heat-exchanger dropped into the reactor. Although the government has spent more than one trillion yen on the project, it remains unclear whether it is possible to achieve its self-imposed goal of putting the reactor to practical use sometime around 2050.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20111121p2a00m0na011000c.html


Perhaps we should rename nuclear power to reflect its primary economic characteristic - "black hole power".

[DCKit]

1. "Black Hole Power".... good one.

I see the nuclear industry is out in force today.