Education minister Nariaki Nakayama (third from left) inspects the Monju fast-breeder nuclear reactor.

Nishikawa told Nariaki Nakayama, minister of education, culture, sports, science and technology, that he backs the central government's plan to seek resumption of the reactor.

The fast-breeder reactor in the city of Tsuruga, run by the governmental Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute, has been shut down since the sodium leak sparked a fire Dec. 8, 1995.

The experimental reactor is designated by the government as a prototype for future reactor models that would play a key part in the national nuclear fuel recycling policy, under which plutonium will be produced through spent-fuel reprocessing.

The Japan Times Weekly: Feb. 12, 2005
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