Rokkasho Fuel Cycle Infrastructure
Spanning 3.8 million square meters in Aomori Prefecture, JNFL operates integrated facilities for uranium enrichment, spent fuel reprocessing, and vitrified waste management under statutory safety mandates.
Industrial Processing Divisions
Reprocessing Plant
Continuous chop-and-leach systems separate recoverable uranium and plutonium isotopes from spent light-water reactor assemblies, directing non-recyclable fission products into borosilicate vitrification canisters.
Uranium Enrichment Facility
Precision gas centrifuges separate uranium-235 isotopes utilizing advanced carbon-fiber rotors. The cascading arrays secure domestic enriched feedstock essential for baseline commercial power generation.
MOX Fuel Fabrication
Blending recovered uranium and plutonium oxides produces mixed oxide pellets for thermal reactors. Automated containment glovebox lines ensure precise powder blending and zero operator exposure.
Multi-Barrier Storage Integrity
Spent fuel assemblies reside in 12-meter-deep Boraflex-racked cooling pools backed by redundant heat exchangers and passive gravity-feed water supplies. Massive seismic foundations isolate structural pools from peak horizontal ground motions.
Dry cask storage bays deploy double-lid bolted steel containment modules filled with inert helium gas, preventing oxidation and providing continuous pressure-differential leak monitoring over decades.
Statutory Oversight Documentation
Technical filings, seismic structural evaluations, and real-time perimeter monitoring logs are submitted continuously to the Nuclear Regulation Authority and prefectural oversight committees.