Washington and Tokyo are extending their existing
nuclear cooperation deal.
This allows Japan to continue reprocessing
spent nuclear fuel... meaning increased amount
of plutonium in that country.
Cha Sang-mi has the full story.
The United States and Japan have decided to
let their current nuclear cooperation pact
renew automatically, which will allow Tokyo
to keep reprocessing spent nuclear fuel.
Japan's Mainichi Shimbun reported Tuesday
that the two nations' 30-year nuclear cooperation
agreement, which was to expire this July,
is confirmed as extended since neither side
proposed revising or terminating it six months
prior to the deadline.
The agreement came into effect in July 1988.
Its renewal raises question about the increasing
amount of plutonium in Japan, which can be
reprocessed to use again as fuel... or to
make nuclear weapons.
Japan is pushing for a so-called nuclear fuel
recycling policy for plutonium, but the country
has no immediate use for it since its reactors
were switched off after the Fukushima nuclear
disaster in 2011.
On the other hand, a nuclear specialist says,
a single warhead requires 5 kilograms of plutonium,
and Japan has 50 tons,... enough for almost
10-thousand nuclear bombs.
But the expert says,
(ENGLISH) -
"It's not going to pose any newer threat to
international community.
The threat has already been there.
It's been like a clear and present dangers
for so many of us for maybe 25 years, but
there could be some ways of converting plutonium
239 to reactor usable material.'
The Japanese government has insisted it will
not hold on to any plutonium not for use by
the international community, the fact that
its stockpiles continue to grow could provoke
criticism.
Cha Sang-mi, Arirang News.
