Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant

[2][3] Construction and testing of the facility were complete in 2013 according to JNFL, and the site was intended to begin operating in October 2013; however this was delayed by new safety regulations.

[2] The delays have caused many parts of the plant to deteriorate, and the closure of the unsuccessful fast breeder reactor at Monju in 2016 reduces the need for the policy of nuclear fuel reprocessing.

Greenpeace Japan opposed the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant and ran an online campaign to stop the project called "Wings of Peace – No more Hiroshima Nagasaki" from 2002 until 2005.

[20] The Consumers Union of Japan together with 596 organisations and groups participated in a march against the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant in central Tokyo on 27 January 2008.

Representatives of the protesters, which included fishery associations, consumer cooperatives and surfer groups, handed the petition to the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

[22] In June 2008, several scientists stated that the Rokkasho plant is situated directly above an active geological fault line that could produce a magnitude 8 earthquake but Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited stated that according to their investigation the fault had not been active in the last million years and there was no reason to fear an earthquake of more than magnitude 6.5 at the site and that the plant could withstand a 6.9 quake.

[23][24] After the Tōhoku earthquake (magnitude 9.1) on 11 March 2011, the plant ran on emergency power provided by backup diesel generators.