Nuclear waste leaves France for Japan

AOMORI (Kyodo) A freighter carrying reprocessed Japanese nuclear waste left Cherbourg in northern France on Monday afternoon for Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture.

The nuclear waste will be put in a long-term storage facility after it arrives in Rokkasho, electric power companies said Tuesday.

The 132 blocks of vitrified waste were reprocessed in France from spent nuclear fuel removed from nuclear reactors in Japan. The shipment, the ninth of its kind, is expected to arrive in Japan in early March and the waste will be stored at the facility for 30 to 50 years.