TOKYO Japan is preparing to start up a massive nuclear-fuel reprocessing plant over the objections of the Obama administration, which fears the move may stoke a broader race for nuclear technologies and even weapons in North Asia and the Middle East.

WSJ: U.S. Opposes Japan's Nuclear Plan

The nuclear industry is going belly up due to several very high profile failures -Fukushima, a fuel reprocessing plant explosion in with fatality in France, a pending plant closure due to radioactive leaks in the US, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Denmark all announcing plans to shut down all nuclear activities, and India, and several other countries announcing moratoriums pending safety investigations and reports.

FORBES: Obama Administration Banking On Next-Generation Nukes

The answer lies in its plant for reprocessing spent fuel, built partly to take used fuel from Germany and Japan (which largely paid for its construction) and partly to produce the plutonium that was once expected to be needed as fuel for fast-breeder reactors, in Britain and elsewhere.

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