Japan Begins Plutonium-extracting Mock Operation

Japan has started a plutonium-extracting mock operation using depleted uranium on December 21. Japan revealed on this day that a plutonium-extracting experiment using 31 tons of recovered depleted uranium from a depleted nuclear fuel-reprocessing factory being built at Rokkasho-mura in Aomori Prefecture has started. This is the first time Japan has done a reprocessing experiment using radioactivity. Japan is currently the only country not possessing nuclear weapons to operate reprocessing facilities that extract plutonium from depleted nuclear fuel and possesses over 40 tons of plutonium both domestically and internationally.