PLUTONIUM (MOX) FUEL AT THE REACTOR #31.) Monday, Aug. 23, 2010f*kushima reactor receives MOXf*kUSHIMA (Kyodo) Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Saturday loaded a nuclear reactor in f*kushima Prefecture with MOX, a controversial fuel made with reprocessed plutonium and uranium oxides, as it prepares to become the leading power utility's first facility to go pluthermal.
The
No. 3 reactor at Tepco's f*kushima No. 1 plant will be the nation's third pluthermal facility, but only the first to be refurbished since the plant was built 34 years ago.
Tokyo Electric plans to activate the reactor on Sept. 18 and let it start generating electricity on Sept. 23.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100823a7.html~~~
2.) 22:01 13 MAR 2011 JAPAN: FEARS GROW FOR f*kUSHIMA
PLUTONIUM-FUELLED REACTOR(AGI) Tokyo - After an explosion destroyed part of the building housing reactor n1 Saturday,
fears grow of a blast at reactor n3. Japanese authorities fear that an explosion may occur also at the boiling water reactor (BWR) of the f*kushima nuclear-power plant. If such an explosion occurred, repercussions could be even worse because, unlike reactor number 1, reactor number 3, where pressure is rising, is charged with MOX Plutonium-enriched fuel consisting of a
mixture of plutonium oxide and uranium oxide. . .~~~~~
3.) -
THIS IS MUCH WORSE THAN 'STANDARD' URANIUM FUEL!Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuelhttp://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf29.htmlhttp://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/mox/puupdat4.txt Nuclear recycling has risks and benefitsMaggie Koerth-Baker at 8:08 AM Monday, Mar 14, 2011
There was another explosion at a Japanese nuclear power plant today. Same power plant, same cause, different reactor...
"Nuclear experts are particularly worried about the No. 3 unit, supplied by Toshiba Corp., because it uses an unconventional fuel called MOX fuel, short for mixed oxide.
It is made by mixing low-enriched uranium with plutonium that has been recycled from a global stockpile of defunct nuclear weapons. This recycling is part of an international effort to decrease the number of nuclear weapons and move from "megatons to megawatts."
MOX fuel has greater concentrations of "actinides," or radioactive elements and runs hotter than conventional fuel, so a shut down plant would have to deal with more "decay" or residual heat from fuel rods.
There are at least two dozen MOX-burning nuclear plants globally. But some experts believe that an accident at a nuclear power plant utilizing MOX fuel could be more dangerous than one that uses conventional uranium-based fuel." More:
http://www.boingboing.net/2011/03/14/nuclear-recycling-ha.html
