Monju goes on line

JAPAN has gone ahead and done what-it has been planning to do for 'more than a year now. On August 29, its first proto- type fast-breeder reactor - Monju - started generating power.

Monju is the key reactor of the nation's nuclear recycling programme, informs the semi -governmental Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation (PNC). Monju, located at Shiraki in Tsuruga, Fukui prefecture, had reached criticality - the state in which chain reactions continue self-sustained - in April 1994. The PNc had faced stiff opposition at both home and abroad while going ahead with Operation Monju. The anti-Monju camp raised objections against the use of plutonium, which can be utilised for making nuclear arms.