French nuclear group Areva SA (CEI.FR) said Friday it has signed a contract to supply MOX fuel assemblies for Japan's Ohma nuclear power plant, scheduled to be in operation in 2014.
The plant it located in the Aomori prefecture and will be operated by the Japanese utility Electric Power Development Co., Ltd. (9513.TO).
Under the terms of the contract, the fuel will be fabricated at Areva's MELOX plant in southern France, using Japanese plutonium recovered from the treatment operations performed at Areva's La Hague plant, thereby recycling it to be used in Japan as MOX fuel.
The contract comes as part of Japan's nuclear program to recycle used fuel, and follows contracts signed in 2006 and 2008 with Japanese utilities Chubu, Kyushu, Shikoku and Kansai.
Since 1995, MELOX has been fabricating MOX fuel assemblies for nuclear power plants in several countries, including France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan and the United States.
Made with uranium and plutonium oxides, MOX fuel is a solution for recycling the plutonium recovered from used nuclear fuel. With 1,426 tons produced to date, MELOX is the world's leading producer of MOX fuel.