The World - News from May 26, 1988

Japan’s Parliament ratified a 30-year agreement with the United States, clearing the way for Japan to airlift bomb-grade plutonium from Europe to use at nuclear plants. Spent nuclear fuel from Japan’s 32 nuclear power plants is currently shipped to Britain and France for reprocessing and returned by ship with a “case-by-case” approval of the U.S. government. Under the new agreement, Japan plans to airlift a total of 25 tons of reprocessed fuel from Europe over a 20-year period, starting in the early 1990s. The material is to be flown nonstop over the North Pole to avoid flying through U.S. airspace.