At present, there are 51 commercial nuclear reactors in operation in Japan, whose total generating capacity is about 45,000 megawatts. Nuclear power generates more than 30% of Japan's total electricity demand. It is expected that nuclear energy's share in electricity generation will increase to more than 40% by 2010.

POWER GENERATION SOURCE IN MAJOR COUNTRIES

Japan has adopted a nuclear fuel cycle policy. This means that spent nuclear fuel is reprocessed. Reprocessing is a chemical process that recovers plutonium and re-usable uranium from spent fuel and separates radioactive wastes into more manageable forms. Once recovered, the plutonium is ready to be re-introduced into the nuclear fuel cycle in the form known as mixed oxide (MOX) fuel.