使用済み核燃料、初搬入へ　中間貯蔵施設、新潟から運搬―青森

　東京電力柏崎刈羽原発（新潟県）の使用済み核燃料を積んだとみられる運搬船が２６日朝、青森県むつ市の港に接岸、積み荷が陸揚げされた。リサイクル燃料貯蔵（ＲＦＳ）が運営する同市内の中間貯蔵施設への初めての搬入作業が始まる。ＲＦＳによる最終検査などを経て、最長５０年間貯蔵される。
　中間貯蔵施設は、原発敷地外で使用済み燃料を保管する国内初の施設。原発内で使用済み燃料をためておくプール容量が限界に近づく中、柏崎刈羽の再稼働を含めた政府の原発推進戦略に追い風となりそうだ。
　今回運搬されたのはキャスク１基で、柏崎刈羽４号機の使用済み燃料６９体が収納されているとみられる。原子力規制委員会が問題ないと確認すれば、１０月にも正式に事業が開始される見通し。（2024/09/26-12:46）

A temporary storage facility in northeastern Japan will likely receive the first batch of spent nuclear fuel soon, after a cargo vessel believed to carry the shipment docked at a nearby port on Thursday morning.
   The vessel likely carrying one cask containing 69 units of spent nuclear fuel from the No. 4 reactor of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata Prefecture, central Japan, arrived at the port of Mutsu, a city in Aomori Prefecture that hosts the storage facility.
   Work to transport spent nuclear fuel to the facility, operated by Recyclable-Fuel Storage Co., or RFS, is expected to begin on a full scale as early as next month, if the Nuclear Regulation Authority finds no issues with the procedure.
   The start of the storage facility's operations is expected to give a boost to the Japanese government's plans to promote nuclear power generation, given that the capacity of fuel storage pools at nuclear power plants in the country is reaching the limit.
   The interim storage facility plays an important role in Japan's plans to establish a nuclear fuel cycle, in which uranium and plutonium are extracted from spent nuclear fuel and then reprocessed for use at nuclear plants.