Japan's nuclear material under IAEA's safeguard

VIENNA -- The UN nuclear watchdog has no guideline for nuclear material supply-demand balance, and all the nuclear material is under the agency's safeguard, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Monday.

Responding the concern that Japan owns large amount stockpile of nuclear material, IAEA Direct General Yukiya Amano said all the nuclear material of Japan is under IAEA's safeguard, and the agency could ensure the nuclear material is for peaceful use.

In regard to the supply-demand balance, which Japan's  neighboring countries doubt, Amano said his agency has no guildline for the supply-demand balance of the nuclear material.

According to report, Japan is expected to return 331 kg weapon grade plutonium to the United States, but it still has about 44 tons of lower-quality plutonium, and there are plans to open a new reprocessing plant at Rokkasho, which could separate out about 8 tons of plutonium each year -- enough "to make one thousand Nagasaki-type bombs," according to a report by the International Panel of Fissile Materials.

There are doubts why Japan keeps such large amount of nuclear material stockpile or even weapon grade nuclear material, as technically, the amount has already somehow beyond the civilian use purpose.

Rather than storing spent nuclear fuel, Japan reprocesses it to separate out plutonium for re-use. Japan is the only non-nuclear weapon state to do so.

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