Japan Starts Up Controversial Plutonium-Producing Reactor

Japan’s widely criticized plan to use plutonium to produce energy took an important step forward Tuesday when engineers shifted an experimental “fast-breeder” reactor into continuous operation.

Protesters denounced the reactor, which produces more plutonium than it uses, as unsafe and unwise. Police said about 100 people rallied peacefully outside the plant in Tsuruga, 200 miles from Tokyo on the Sea of Japan coast.

Critics say plutonium is too lethal for safe use, and they also worry that it could become the target for terrorists who want to build a nuclear bomb.

The 280,000-kilowatt nuclear power station, which cost $5.9 billion, is named Monju after the Buddhist deity of wisdom. It will not begin transmitting electricity until April, 1995, and will not be at full power until late next year. Its start-up was delayed 1 1/2 years by a series of technical problems.

Opponents say the reactor’s safety systems have not been adequately tested and fear that an accident could scatter highly lethal plutonium, possibly tainting water and food supplies.

Monju’s cooling system is at issue because it uses liquid sodium, which can ignite when exposed to air. A similar reactor in France was shut down in 1990 after several leaks in its sodium-based cooling system and is still idle.

Several other nations have dropped plans for plutonium-producing reactors because of the hazards and costs of producing the material and because less-toxic uranium became much cheaper.