Japan to freeze fast-breeder reactor project

Japan is likely to freeze a research and development project related to putting a fast-breeder nuclear reactor into practical use.

The education, science and technology ministry plans to request more than 20 billion yen, or about 260 million dollars, in its 2012 budget to maintain and manage the troubled prototype fast-breeder Monju reactor. This is roughly the same amount budgeted for the project as in the current fiscal year.

But the ministry is planning to ask for only 20 to 30 percent of the 10 billion yen, or about 130 million dollars, allocated in the current fiscal year for research and development on the project.

This is due to uncertainty over Japan's future nuclear policy in the wake of the accident in Fukushima.

Fast-breeder reactors run on recycled spent fuel as the core of a nuclear fuel-recycling program. Japan has been conducting research to put such a reactor to practical use by 2050. Test runs are now under way at the Monju experimental reactor in Tsuruga City, Fukui Prefecture.

Following the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the government has been reviewing its basic energy plan, making its future nuclear policy unclear.

The ministry says it has concluded that it cannot proceed with the project when it is unclear which way the government's energy policy will go.