Troubled nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Japan clears safety screening

A trouble-plagued nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in northeastern Japan formally passed safety checks on Wednesday despite the questionable future of the government's decades-old nuclear fuel cycle policy based on uranium recycling.The plant in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, which has been under construction for nearly three decades, has long been intended to play a key role in the country's nuclear policy by taking spent fuel from reactors and extracting uranium and plutonium for reuse.The plant, operated by Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd., cleared the tougher safety standards introduced in the wake…READ FULL ARTICLE