OREANDA-NEWS. A delegation of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency November 24-25 paid a working visit to Mining and Chemical Combine (MCC, a ROSATOM company).

The main objective of the Japanese specialists was to study the Russian experience in handling, long-term storage and reprocessing of SNF, fabrication of MOX-fuel, remix process and closing the nuclear fuel cycle, as well as to familiarize with Russian back-end concepts, in frames of the new NFC policy being developed in Japan.

The Japanese delegation visited the dry and wet storage facilities of spent nuclear fuel (SNF). "Our main goal is to familiarize with the nuclear fuel cycle," Hirowumi Nakamura, Director of the Fukushima Fuels and Materials Department (Research and Development Center in Oarai), said. "Mining and Chemical Combine has three very important facilities, which play a key role in closing the nuclear fuel cycle, i.e. the dry and wet storage facilities of SNF, the MOX-fuel fabrication facility, and the pilot demonstration center for testing SNF reprocessing technologies. Certainly, they are at different stages of advancement, but for us familiarization with them is very encouraging," he said.

During the two days the delegation took part in technical discussions with specialists of the combine. After the discussions, the Japanese delegation members appraised those meetings as active and fruitful. H. Nakamura highlighted the fact he was impressed by: the Russian nuclear specialists not only discuss and study ideas, they also implement them. Therefore, Nakamura concluded that is important for the Japanese nuclear industry to establish the mutually beneficial cooperation with Russia.

In the second half of November 25, after completion of the working program a press conference was held in the Nuclear Energy Information Center in Krasnoyarsk where the members of the Japanese delegation answered questions of Krasnoyarsk journalists.

Looking back, this visit of the Japanese delegation has become the second one this year. On June 5-8, 2014 a delegation of the Japan Atomic Industry Forum led by its President Takuya Hattori visited Mining and Chemical Combine.