Criticism breeds fast

JAPAN has commissioned the Monju fast-breeder reactor, heedless of severe criticism from Western anti-nuclear proliferation groups. The plant is a $6 billion prototype of a chain of reactors that Japan hopes will help meet its future energy demands.

Environmentalists say that the new reactor breeds plutonium, a toxic material that can be used to make nuclear bombs. Besides, since the breeder reactor technology is highly capital-intensive, the Monju plant, which has slipped badly behind schedule in going critical, will cost far more than a normal reactor plant of the same size.

Japanese officials nevertheless maintain that with design adaptations the reactor can be made to consume, rather than breed, plutonium. This has caught the attention of Western countries because such technology might help them dispose of their plutonium stockpiles.