Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant

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The Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant 六ヶ所村核燃料再処理施設 (Rokkasho Kakunenryou Saishori Shisetsu, 六ヶ所村核燃料再処理施設^?) is a Nuclear reprocessing plant owned by Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited. Since 1993 there has been 219 billion yen invested in the project. It is currently undergoing test operations, separating a small amount of used nuclear fuel. It is the successor to a smaller reprocessing plant located in Tokai, Ibaraki.

At the same site there will also be:

A high level nuclear waste monitoring facility
An Uranium enrichment plant
A low level radioactive waste landfill

The low level waste disposal part is of very little notability compared to the other facilities, as they are common at nuclear plant sites as well.

In May, 2006 an international awareness campaign about the dangers of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant, Stop Rokkasho^[1], was launched by musician Ryuichi Sakamoto. Greenpeace has opposed the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant under a campain called "Wings of Peace - No more Hiroshima Nagasaki"^[2], since 2002 and has launched a cyberaction[2] to stop the project.

Vitrification tests completed in November 2007. This consists of pouring high level dry waste reside along with molten glass into steel canisters.^[3]

In June 2008, several scientists stated that the Rokkasho plant is sited directly above an active geological fault line that could produce a magnitude 8 earthquake. But Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited have stated that there was no reason to fear an earthquake of more than magnitude 6.5 at the site, and that the plant could withstand a 6.9 quake.^[4]