Japan receives first nuclear fuel since Fukushima disaster

Protesters gather as a freighter carrying MOX, a mixture of uranium and plutonium oxide, arrives at the Takahama nuclear power station in Takahama town, Fukui prefecture, Japan. The power plant on the Sea of Japan coast has received the first shipment of reprocessed nuclear reactor fuel sent from France since the 2011 disaster that forced it to shut down reactors.

A vessel carrying nuclear fuel processed in France docked in Japan on Thursday amid protests, the first such shipment to the country since the disaster at Fukushima, local media reported.

Kansai Electric Power Co received the mixed-oxide fuel containing uranium and plutonium for use at the utility’s Takahama Nuclear Power Plant in Fukui prefecture as it seeks to restart reactor 3 at the complex.

Power companies plan to apply for government approval to reactivate their reactors once new safety requirements for nuclear plants come into force in July 2013.

Japan’s 50 nuclear reactors were shut down for repairs and regular maintenance after the atomic disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Only two of them were restarted amid fierce public opposition.

The plant suffered meltdowns at three of its six reactors after it was struck by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.