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Nature 408, 759 (14 December 2000) | doi:10.1038/35048727

Japan pins hopes on fast-breeder nuclear option

David Cyranoski

Bucking the international trend towards ending programmes to build nuclear power plants that breed their own fuel, Japan is drawing up plans to reopen its prototype fast-breeder reactor.The Monju reactor at Fukui, 500 kilometres southwest of Tokyo, has been closed since an accident in 1995, when sodium coolant leaked from a cracked pipe and burst into flames.