Overview
- Governor Soichiro Miyashita said he will not allow spent fuel to be brought into the Mutsu facility in fiscal 2026, halting a plan to receive about 60 tons from TEPCO’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant.
- He said he cannot confirm conditions to keep the project going because the Rokkasho reprocessing plant has faced repeated completion delays and no clear timeline for design and construction reviews.
- The Mutsu site stores spent fuel for up to 50 years until reprocessing, and operator RFS is funded by TEPCO and Japan Atomic Power, which ties day-to-day operations to when Rokkasho is approved to run.
- Political pushback around nuclear operations also surfaced as a Niigata gubernatorial candidate pledged to abolish the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, signaling pressure on TEPCO’s broader fuel-cycle plans.
- The Supreme Court rejected an appeal in the attack on Prime Minister Kishida, making a 10-year prison sentence effectively final and closing a prominent criminal case.